


A Fork in the Road

by janezy



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blow Jobs, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Eventual Happy Ending, First Time, Gen, Hand Jobs, M/M, Massage, Platonic Cuddling, Poor Clueless Boys, Season 3 and 4 Spoilers, Season/Series 03, Season/Series 04, Slow Build, Swimming, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2016-08-09
Packaged: 2018-08-07 15:37:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 27,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7720324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janezy/pseuds/janezy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU shooting off after Daryl and Merle are rescued from Woodbury.  Glenn realizes that the group would be lost without Daryl and lobbies to have him come back to the prison, even if that means they have to deal with Merle, too.</p><p>Having Daryl there at that critical time makes all the difference.</p><p>~or~</p><p>Glenn liked to call Daryl “The Rick Whisperer.”  Not to his face, of course.  Not usually out loud at all, except to Maggie when they were alone.  But in his head, that’s what he usually thought when he saw the two of them together.  Daryl seemed to be the only one that could consistently talk sense to Rick.  Hershel would try, but somehow Rick seemed more receptive when Daryl was the one talking, even if they said the same thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Fork in the Road

When Glenn saw a bedraggled Rick and Maggie walking through the woods, returning from Woodbury with Daryl and Merle in tow, he wasn’t sure what to think. Well, he was grateful to see Maggie and Daryl, but Merle? Not so much. Of course, Merle started running his mouth right away and ignoring everyone telling him to shut up until Rick cocked him in the back of the head.

Then came some heated not-so-whispering from Daryl and Rick. Those two were never as quiet or subtle as they thought they were. Glenn had no intention of letting Merle come back to the prison after everything he had done, but Daryl seemed determined.

“Rick, I’m tellin’ you, man,” Daryl said, right in Rick’s face. “He’s comin’ with us. Or I ain’t.”

“Don’t make this into an ultimatum,” Rick replied. “Your brother just tried to kill two of our people. How can we welcome him back? How can you expect Glenn and Maggie to feel safe in their home with him there?”

“If this Governor has anything to say about it, we won’t none of us feel safe for a while. Merle can help with that. He knows the asshole. Knows how he thinks.”

“Because he was in league with him. Because they think the same things.”

Daryl looked to where his brother was beginning to stir back to consciousness on the ground, then looked back to Rick. “I can control him,” he said, but not as confidently as before.

“Yeah, you were doing a great job ‘controlling’ him while he was shooting his mouth off 10 minutes ago.”

“It woulda been fine if you just let him get his rant out. He can be a thoughtless son of a bitch sometimes, but he’s not stupid. He knows he needs us. That we need each other. He knows the Governor is gonna be gunnin’ for him now. When we get back to the prison, we’ll separate everyone until he cools off.”

Rick groaned and ran his hand through his hair.

Glenn liked to call Daryl “The Rick Whisperer.” Not to his face, of course. Not usually out loud at all, except to Maggie when they were alone. But in his head, that’s what he usually thought when he saw the two of them together. Daryl seemed to be the only one that could consistently talk sense to Rick. Hershel would try, but somehow Rick seemed more receptive when Daryl was the one talking, even if they said the same thing.

Glenn was worried that Rick was going to cave and let Merle come back, so he interrupted their conversation. “Rick, you can’t seriously be thinking about this. That Governor was about to rape Maggie and Merle would have let it happen. We can do this without him.”

“Wait,” Daryl said, his head whipping to look at Glenn. “What are you talking about?” He could understand a bit of whipping. Torture for information. Even some mind games. He’s been known to participate in that himself when it needed to be done. But what Glenn was saying – that was a line he would never cross. That no one should, even in these lawless days. “Merle wouldn’t help with somethin’ like that.”

“If he didn’t help, he knew about it,” Glenn replied angrily. “And didn’t do shit.”

Daryl had to admit that seemed more likely. Merle had always been a big proponent of turning a blind eye. What you don’t know, can’t hurt you. But Daryl wasn’t about to abandon his only living kin like this. Between the walkers and what was sure to be a nasty vendetta from the Governor, Merle probably wouldn’t make it alone for long.

“Look, I can apologize for him forever,” Daryl said to them both. “Been doing it my whole life. Followin’ after him and smoothin’ things over. But it won’t make any difference if you can’t let it go. We got folks with us that were enemies once. Or, I guess we just got Axel, now. But I can tell you, we got plenty enough enemies. We’re gonna have more problems with this Governor. We’re gonna want Merle on our side.”

Glenn’s expression hardened. “Daryl. You know I love you like a brother. But your real brother is an asshole. He’s dead weight. Cut him loose and come back with us.”

“No way, man. It’s him and me, or nothin’. You let me know what you decide.” Daryl said forcefully and turned to help his brother sit up.

Glenn turned to Rick, who seemed ready to pull out his hair. They’d all been through a lot, but lately, Rick had been skirting the edges of sanity more than usual. Glenn would rather not have another brush with Rick while he’s half-crazed. He remembered being pushed into the grimy wall of the prison in the tombs and held by the throat. Once was more than enough. Of course, that reminded him of Daryl’s special skill set. What would they do if they didn’t have Daryl? They would be losing more than their best hunter. Their best tracker. One of their best defenders. They would be losing the person that keeps Rick from running completely off the rails. 

As much as he hated to admit it, Glenn decided he needed to reconsider his objections. They just had too much to lose.

“Rick,” Glenn said, making sure he had the man’s full attention. “You’ve never really seen those two together before. Daryl really does have a way with him. Back at the camp, before we met up in Atlanta, Merle would go off half-cocked every other day. But it was all just talk. No one ever got hurt. Daryl would talk him down, or they would just go off hunting for a couple days.” Glenn gritted his teeth before saying the next part, almost unwillingly. “I don’t want to have anything to do with him and I don’t really want him near us, but I don’t want to lose Daryl, either. Maybe we should think about it. About doing what Daryl says and bringing him back. Keeping him in isolation – at least for now. We still got that extra cell block we cleared for Axel and Oscar. We can finish moving the bodies out of there and let him stay there. Daryl too, if he insists. Better that Daryl be close by.”

“Really?” Rick questioned skeptically. “You’d be down for that, after everything you just said?”

“It’s a question of the least bad option,” Glenn said with a shrug. “We don’t have any good choices here.”

“What about Maggie? What’s she think?” Rick asked.

“Let’s ask her herself,” Glenn said, calling her over. Glenn relayed his idea to her and she listened, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know him all that well. But you’re right that we should do what we can to keep Daryl with us. If you really think he’ll leave over this, I guess that I’ll trust your judgment.”

Maggie and Rick both looked to Rick. “Fine,” he said to Glenn. “We’ll try it your way.” He walked over to where Daryl was talking quietly with Merle.

Merle looked up at him and sneered. “Well, hello, Officer Friendly. Come to give my head another love tap?”

“I said to quit it, Merle,” Daryl cut in. He looked up at Rick. “Whadja decide? We stayin’ or goin’?”

Rick gestured off to the side with his head. “Can you come talk with me alone?” he asked Daryl.

“Ain’t nothin’ you can’t say in front of me,” Merle said. “Concerns me anyhow.”

“Sure,” Daryl said forcefully in answer to Rick’s question, looking at his brother sternly as Merle rolled his eyes. Daryl got up and followed Rick over to some trees a few yards away.

“That’s right,” Merle said loudly. “Puppy gotta follow his master.”

“Ignore him,” Daryl said to Rick.

“I can,” Rick said. “I can ignore all manner of insults. Perps used to say much worse than that while waiting for booking. The question is, why do you ignore it? He’s your brother. Shouldn’t he be treatin’ you better?”

“Eh,” Daryl said dismissively. “It’s just bluster. The way we grew up, he coulda turned out much worse.”

Rick recalled his previous glimpses of Daryl’s scarred back. That kind of abuse was not short term. That was years and years of heavy beatings. And what Daryl’s father dealt to one, he most likely dealt to the other. “I’ll have to take your word for it, I guess. Look, you mentioned before keepin’ him separated. Me ‘n Glenn talked about it. I know it’s not ideal, but what would you think about keeping him isolated in cell block D for a while?”

“With all them bodies rottin’ away in there?” Daryl said. “What the hell, man. He’s not some animal. And what if some walkers get in there? He’d be all alone and not able to get our help.”

“We could clear out the bodies. And you could stay there, too, if you really think it’s necessary. It’d just be until he’s ready to stop being such an asshole.”

Daryl laughed outright at that. “Good luck with that. He’s asshole through and through. You just gotta learn to live with it.”

“So, what do you propose?” Rick asked sarcastically. “We just let him come back with us and we all learn to overlook his abuse in our own home?”

“Nah. We’ll take the roof of cell block C. We can keep watch more and keep him’n his mouth away from trouble. I can’t stand bein’ behind bars anyhow. And I know Merle’ll feel the same. He’s spent too much of his life behind ‘em for real. We’ll just stay apart from the rest of you.”

“Forever?” Rick asked, looking at Daryl’s eyes. “I need you closer.”

Daryl shivered at the intensity in Rick’s eyes. “I’ma hell of a lot closer on the roof than if we’re not in the prison at all.” He stepped a little closer. “And you know I’ll always be there for you when you need me.”

“You gonna kiss or what?” Merle hollered over.

“God damnit!” Daryl exclaimed, stepping back from Rick and looking at his brother. “Learn to read a fuckin’ room!” 

“What the fuck does that mean?” Merle asked defensively.

“It means that when people are tryin’ to help your sorry ass, you shouldn’t let your sorry mouth talk ‘em outta it!”

“Whatever. Jesus Christ. Are you two done makin’ out now? Can we go, or do you need to give each other handies first?”

Daryl reddened, but still calmly turned back to Rick. “Well? Whadda ya say? We good to go?”

“Don’t make me regret this,” Rick replied, turning back to the cars where everyone else was waiting. “Merle’s gonna come back with us,” he announced to the group. Michonne narrowed her eyes, but didn’t object. Glenn looked a bit relieved.

Daryl walked over to his brother and kicked his leg. “Put your fuckin’ knife hand away. You ain’t holdin’ on to me on the bike like that.”

Merle got up and got in his brother’s face. “If you think I’m ridin’ bitch on my own god damn motorcycle, you got another think comin’.”

Daryl rolled his eyes. “And if you think you’re drivin’ that thing with one hand and a probable concussion, maybe Rick hit you harder than I thought. Shut up and get on the bike.”

Everyone watched the exchange and breathed a sigh of relief when Merle relented and got on the bike behind Daryl. It wasn’t much, but it proved Daryl **was** capable of controlling Merle, at least some of the time. They loaded up the car and took off for the prison.

~~*~~

Carl was keeping watch on the gates from the cage when the group arrived back at the prison. He ran inside to share the news. “They’re back!” he said, rushing to let the group back in.

The rest of those who had stayed behind followed outside to greet them. Hershel hobbled quickly to Maggie, catching her in a fierce hug before doing the same with a somewhat surprised Glenn. Beth followed her father and did the same. Carl grasped his father tightly around the waist. Carol, carrying Judith, started walking toward Daryl’s bike, but stopped when she realized who was the bike behind him.

Hershel looked to Rick. “Thank you for bringing them home,” he said, relief evident in his voice. Rick nodded in response. Then Hershel started doing a headcount. They had the right number of people, but not all the right bodies. He wasn’t sure who this new person was on Daryl’s motorcycle. “Oscar?” he asked. To that, Rick just shook his head.

Rick walked over to Judith to stroke her head. He still felt uncomfortable around the baby, but he was happy to see her thriving nonetheless. Then he looked back to Hershel. “This here is Merle, Daryl’s brother,” he said, gesturing toward him. Hershel’s eyes widened a bit. He’d only heard a few stories, but what he’d heard wasn’t good. “He’s gonna be joining us for now,” Rick added.

“Merle,” Hershel said in greeting, nodding his head. “This is my daughter, Beth. I expect you already know my other daughter, Maggie.” His words were friendly, but his tone was clear. It said _hands off my family_. Hershel generally trusted Rick’s judgment. It had gotten them this far, after all. He wasn’t sure about this, but was willing to try, so long as Merle understood the rules.

“Pleasure,” Merle said, eyeing Beth like she was a turkey dinner to a starving man. Daryl elbowed him.

“We’re going to be stayin’ on the roof for right now,” Daryl said.

“Yeah,” Rick agreed, then turned his focus to Carol. “Would you and Axel get that portable pavilion we found set up on the roof? Drag some mattresses up there, too?”

Carol nodded. “Sure,” she said, eyeing Merle warily.

“We got it,” Daryl said, getting off his bike. “Don’t need nobody fetchin’ and carryin’ for us.”

“Actually,” Hershel interrupted, splitting his gaze between Rick and Daryl, “we may need your help with something else. Carl found some folks in the tombs and brought them to the common area. We have kept them locked in there until you got back.”

Rick looked to his son. “What? You brought in strangers?”

“They were already here,” Carl said. “And being attacked by walkers. I just brought them to safety so you could decide what to do with them.”

“We can’t keep taking people in,” Rick said. “It’s dangerous. Look what happened with the last people we met.” Rick thought again how much better everything would have been if he’d just shot those prisoners on sight.

“This is different. These are good people,” Hershel said. “And we can’t keep ourselves so isolated. We’ve just lost some people, too. These folks could help.”

“Those people weren’t **replaceable** ,” Rick said forcefully, making Hershel cringe.

“Of course not. That’s not what I’m saying. I just mean that not everyone is bad and those of us who aren’t should stick together.” Rick was breathing harshly through his nose, pulling his hair and looking at seemingly nothing in the middle distance. Hershel looked at Daryl, pleading silently for back up.

“Rick,” Daryl said softly, moving closer and putting a hand on his elbow. “If you’re willing to bring in Merle and Michonne to help us with our issues with the Governor, why not a couple more?” Daryl brought Rick’s gaze back to him. He continued rubbing his elbow and trying to get Rick to match his breathing subconsciously. “Oscar and Axel have been plenty helpful. Why don’t we just meet these people? Suss them out. See if they even want to stay once they know we got a target on our heads.”

“Yeah,” Rick said to Daryl, seeming to suddenly snap back into the moment. “Yeah. Okay,” he said more loudly. He looked to the group and started giving assignments. “Hershel, everyone that just came back exceptin’ me and Daryl needs medical attention. You see to that. Beth and Carl, you’ve got Judith. Carol, you and Axel set up the roof like I said.” He waited to see everyone nod and start off in the direction of the prison. “Daryl, let’s go see if we can talk these folks out of wanting to stay.”

Daryl smirked a bit. “That’s the spirit.”

Rick and Daryl entered the common area. Tyreese and Sasha were standing near the bars, looking out at the cells and watching Hershel start caring for the people who had just returned. Allen and Ben were sitting at a table, talking. All four of the new survivors looked over when the door creaked to see who had arrived. Tyreese stepped forward and introduced himself and his group, shaking hands with Rick and Daryl.

“I know it’s your boy that saved us and I just wanted to say ‘thank you.’” Tyreese said when it didn’t look like Rick or Daryl were going to say anything. He looked over at Sasha as the awkward silence continued. “There are not many good people left out there and we feel real lucky to have run into you.”

“First things first,” Rick says. “How did you get in?”

“Well, there’s a building in the back somewhere,” Tyreese said. “I’m not too sure of the layout of this place to be honest. But, the whole back of the building was blown off. We were just trying to get away from the walkers. We didn’t mean any trouble.”

“And now that you’re here, what do you mean to do?” Rick asked.

“Like I said, there’s not many good people left. We’d like to stay, if you’ll have us. We can pull our weight.”

“It’s just you four?” Daryl asked, eyeing them suspiciously, his gaze lingering on Allen.

“Yes,” Tyreese answered. “Sasha and I were able to live in Jacksonville for about seven months after it all happened. After that, we wandered a bit and found a group of other survivors. There were 50 of us at one point. But herds hit us a couple times and most of us got killed or separated. There were 5 of us yesterday. We just lost Donna, Allen’s wife and Ben’s mom.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Rick said. The news reminded him of his own recent loss and he stopped talking and started staring off again.

Daryl looked over at him, then put a hand on the back of Rick’s neck. When Rick seemed to re-enter the conversation, Daryl dropped his hand.

“Sorry,” Rick said again, though Tyreese wasn’t sure if he meant sorry for Donna or for stopping the conversation. Then Rick took a quick breath in. “Tyreese Williams? Weren’t you a linebacker for the Jaguars?”

Tyreese smiled. “Sure was. Not that what we were before matters much nowadays. Seems silly now, how important people play fighting on a field used to be.”

“It shows you know how to work on a team. How to follow someone’s lead. You can do that?”

“Yes, sir,” Tyreese said, ducking his head in deference. “You got a good thing going here. We just want to be a part of it.”

“I was a firefighter,” Sasha added. “A first responder. I’ve got my basic first aid down. I know you’ve already got a doctor, so I’m not trying to step on any toes. But I see you brought back some injured folks. I could be in there helping with that.”

“We appreciate you wanting to help. But our situation might not be one you want to get yourself messed up with. We seemed to have just kicked up a hornets’ nest with another nearby group. I’m not sure how safe this place will be. We can’t ask you to risk your lives for people you just met.”

“Your son did it for us,” Tyreese said. “And I suspect you would, too.”

Daryl looked at Allen and Ben. “You two are awfully quiet back there. You in for risking your lives for strangers?”

Allen looked at Ben, then back at Daryl. “We’ll do what we gotta do. We’ve been risking our lives for months. It would be nice to know someone’s got our backs again.”

Rick motioned to Daryl and the two of them moved outside. “Well?” Rick questioned, looking for Daryl’s opinion.

“I like Tyreese and his sister,” Daryl said. “Not too sure about the other two.”

“I agree,” Rick said. He didn’t like the way they’d sat silently in the back, like they were sizing Rick and Daryl up and would attack at the first sign of weakness. It reminded him too much of Tomas.

“Seems like they’re a package deal, though,” Daryl said. He certainly understood that logic. He felt like he had benefitted from it mightily in the past. People like Hershel would never have taken him in if he hadn’t been part of a group of people like Rick and Glenn.

“We could use the extra muscle right about now,” Rick said. “Maybe give ‘em a trial period. See what happens.”

“You’re gonna tell them they’re only here temporarily?” Daryl whispered loudly.

“Naw,” said Rick, shaking his head. “Just, you and me will keep our eyes open for trouble. First sign, and they’re out.”

Daryl nodded. “Sounds reasonable.”

They walked back inside. Rick shook hands again with Tyreese. “Let’s find you some beds,” he said.

Tyreese lit up. “Thank you, Rick. You won’t regret this.”

Rick opened the door to the cells. “Let’s hope not,” he said.

Daryl stayed until the rest of the group went through the door and took the rear.

Hershel came out from the cell where he had been treating Michonne. He smiled to see Tyreese’s group. “They’ll be joining us, then?” he asked Rick.

Rick nodded and called for Beth. When she appeared, he asked her to get the group settled and the five of them walked up the stairs to find cells on the upper level.

“How’s everyone doing?” Rick asked Hershel.

“Michonne’s the worst off, and Glenn’s pretty beat up, too. But they’ll be okay. Just bumps and bruises, mostly. Michonne’s definitely got a concussion we’ll want to keep an eye on. They just need some time to rest.”

“I hope they get it,” Rick said, looking to the windows, but thinking about the Governor and the trouble that was sure to be headed their way.

“I’ma go check on Merle,” Daryl said to Rick. “He didn’t give you too much trouble, did he?” he asked Hershel.

“Not at all. Though he didn’t seem to want to be looked over for long. I just got to check the knot on his head. It’s tender, but should heal in a few days. If he has a concussion, it’s pretty mild.”

“Good to know,” Daryl said, starting to climb the stairs to the roof.

“Daryl,” Rick called out. But when Daryl turned, he didn’t know what more to say. Don’t go up there. Don’t leave me. Don’t let your brother take you away from me.

Daryl waited a beat for more and looked at Rick searchingly. He seemed able to hear the words Rick was too afraid to speak. “It’ll be okay. You just holler if you need me. We’ll leave the door open.”

When Daryl got up to the roof, Axel and Carol were putting the finishing touches on the pavilion. Merle was lying under it on a mattress from one of the prison cots with his arms crossed under his head. “A little to the left,” he said, gesturing without getting up. Carol rolled her eyes in a way that told Daryl that Merle had been giving them a hard time for a while.

“Don’t be a dick,” Daryl said to his brother.

“Oh, has the Princess of the Prison finally decided to grace me with his presence? I feel so special,” Merle said sarcastically.

“I had stuff to take care of. You’re fine,” Daryl said dismissively.

“Ooo. ‘Stuff.’ Very descriptive. You finally give Officer Friendly that handy?”

Daryl colored and cut his eyes over to Carol, who was trying not to give eye contact to either of them.

“His name is Rick,” Daryl said, “and you better start usin’ it.”

“Sorrrrry. My bad,” Merle replied in sing song. “I didn’t know you were so protective of your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my – ” Daryl started, then cut himself off. He knew better than to engage Merle in this way. It would just give him more ammunition. “Rick has done right by me. By all of us. He’s a good man and he’s giving you a chance when you sure as hell ain’t actin’ like you deserve it. When you gonna learn not to bite the hand that feeds you?”

“Fuck that noise!” Merle said. “You and me don’t get ‘fed’ by no one. We could take care of ourselves. If he can’t handle a little jokin’ around, we should just leave.”

“We ain’t goin’ nowhere,” Daryl said. “They need us and we need them. Why don’t you just take a nap or somethin’?”

“Fine, have it your way,” Merle said, and rolled over onto his side.

Axel started down the stairs back to the cell block. As Carol passed Daryl, she put a hand on his elbow and walked him a bit away from Merle.

“You’ve made so much progress,” she said to Daryl. “Please don’t let him drag you back down. He’s nothing but dead weight.”

“He ain’t ‘dead weight’,” Daryl whispered hotly. “What do you know about it anyway?”

“I know that the last time you two were together, he treated you like crap and you let him. Just like I let Ed.”

“Well, I’m a different person now.”

“I know you are,” she said, care evident in her voice. “You should be really proud of the person you’ve become. But sometimes old habits are hard to break. If Ed walked in right now and ordered me to come with him, I’d like to think that I’d be able to say ‘no.’ But I’m not so sure. Don’t let your brother get in your head.”

Daryl sighed. “Thanks for the concern. I know you mean well. But butt out.”

“Fine,” Carol said, putting her hands up in surrender and starting to walk down the stairs. “But I’m here if you need me.”

Daryl walked back under the pavilion and watched Merle for a bit, then kicked him lightly. “I know you ain’t asleep,” he said. “They’re gone. You can stop putting on your show.”

Merle turned to his other side and looked at Daryl. “And what show is that?”

“The one where you pretend to be a bag of dicks and push everyone away so’s they don’t get a chance to do it to you first,” Daryl said, moving to sit on the other mattress.

“Very observant, Dr. Freud. Should I tell you my dreams now?” Merle asked, propping himself up on his elbows.

“I mean it Merle. Just quit it. Talk to me like a human.”

“What should we talk about? How we planned to rob that camp blind and yet somehow you’ve ended up in cahoots with ‘em? Did you ever tell your precious Rick about that?”

“Well,” Daryl said, turning his eyes to the ground, “Didn’t see no need. We didn’t ever do it. They was just plans. This has turned out okay.”

“Sure. You abandon me and your life gets a thousand times better.”

Daryl looked up quickly at that. “We went back for you! I told you that! You’re the damn idiot that couldn’t wait and cut his own hand off.”

“The walkers were gonna get me and weren’t no one else gonna save me!”

“The walkers weren’t gonna get you. That door was still chained shut when Rick and I got there. If you’da waited, we coulda got you.”

“I’m not gonna be waitin’ around for Rick or you to save me. That’ll be a cold day in Hell. Speakin’ of, what the fuck is going on with plannin’ for the Governor? You know he’s comin’, right?”

“Of course we know that. You’n me will keep watch. Someone up in the guard towers, too.”

“Just keepin’ watch won’t be enough. He’s a wily son of a bitch. I’ve seen him wave the white flag and pretend to surrender, just to get close enough to gun down a group. And he users walkers as a weapon all the time. It’s not just those couple he had in the arena with us. He’s always collectin’ ‘em.”

“For what?” Daryl asked, mildly horrified.

“‘Research,’ he says. But he mostly uses them for whatever he wants. Sets ‘em loose on people he doesn’t like. Actually, I’m not too sure there are any people he **does** like. Everyone’s just a means to an end with him. Totally expendable.”

“You seemed pretty cozy with him.”

“Sure. He lets me be the bad guy and do the dirty jobs that need doin’ so he can seem like a nice guy to the townsfolk. But he ain’t a nice guy. Pretty much as far from it as it comes.”

“What’s he got for weapons? How many fighters?”

“He’s got quite a stockpile of weapons. And we just took a shit ton more from some National Guard outfit. Machine guns. Armored vehicles with mounted shit. Fuck, even rocket launchers.”

“And people?”

“Enough to do damage. More than you got, that’s for sure.”

“Than **we** got,” Daryl corrected.

“More than we got,” Merle conceded.

“So, what do you propose?”

“I keep tellin’ you, we’d be better off hightailin’ it outta here pronto. But since ain’t nobody gonna listen to me, I say make sure that we’re the ones shoot first. And don’t trust anything that bastard says.”

Daryl looked steadily at his brother. “You should tell all this to Rick. Nicely.”

“Naw. I’ll let you be the go-between, little brother. The less I interact with him, the better.”

“You know, you could have a place here. And it could be good for you. Rick would never make you do the kinds of horrible things the Governor did. He’s not spiteful or mean. He’s not constantly looking for your weaknesses. He takes no pleasure in killing. He’s just lookin’ for us all to survive. To thrive.”

“But that’s just it. I ain’t so sure. The Governor didn’t ‘make’ me do things. I did them myself. And a big part of me liked doing’ ‘em, too. It’s like all those impulses I’ve ever had that every teacher and drill sergeant and lawman tried to tamp down, the Governor encouraged me to let out freely. All that stuff I did – I did it ‘cause I wanted to. He and I are more alike than we are different. Which is why I know that I’ll never be safe near him again. ‘Cause I know what I’d do if the situations were reversed.”

Daryl listened attentively, trying to find a way to pull his brother back from the brink. But he couldn’t hear one. It seemed like maybe Merle wasn’t so much on the brink as he already dove into the water, decided it felt good, and swam miles away from shore. The Governor had brought out a side of him that Daryl had been avoiding thinking about, and hiding from others, for decades. When a younger Merle pulled the legs off spiders, or beat up his best friends for no reason, or left home and abandoned Daryl to live with their abusive father alone, Daryl thought that Merle was just acting out because his life was so awful. But Daryl had lived that same life and had never wanted to do those things. Maybe Merle was just too far gone. Maybe Rick and Carol were right that he wasn’t worth saving. Didn’t mean he wouldn’t try, though.

“I’ll tell Rick then,” Daryl said when the silence began to grow uncomfortable, rising to his feet and brushing off his pants. “See what he wants to do.”

“You do that,” Merle replied, laying back down. “I think I’ll take that nap.”

Daryl went back into the cell block and found Rick, Carl, Carol and Axel cleaning weapons and organizing their ammunitions inventory.

“There’s not enough here,” Rick said to Daryl. “I think I’m going to have to make a run.”

Carl looked up at his father hopefully as he finished putting a handgun back together. “Can I come?”

“Is now the best time for that?” Daryl asked, ignoring Carl. “The Governor could show up any minute.”

“That’s why I have to go now. We’re not prepared to defend ourselves like this,” Rick said, gesturing to the table.

Daryl noticed how Carl and Carol were trying to listen without seeming like they were paying attention. He could see others further away trying to eavesdrop also. “Let’s take a walk. Check the perimeter.” he said to Rick, leading him outside to the fences.

As they walked, he relayed everything Merle had told him about the Governor.

“So, he’s a complete sociopath,” Rick said, as much to himself as Daryl. “Terrific. All the more reason to try to find some more weapons.”

“Where we even gonna go?” Daryl asked.

“I was thinking about going back to my old station. I only took a few things the last time I was there. Assuming the rest is still there, it would be a nice haul.”

“When are we going?”

“ **You’re** stayin’ here,” Rick said. Daryl’s face frowned, but Rick continued before he could object. “I need you here. You’re right that the Governor could show up any time. Glenn’s not at 100%. You need be here to help protect everyone. And you all can start adding to the security. This place was designed to keep folks in, not withstand major attacks from the outside. Plus, it’d be good to start working on arms training with the new folks. And any of the rest of ‘em who need it -- Carol and Beth especially. Make sure everyone is comfortable with all the weapons. See who’s good with what.”

“I can do that. You okay with Merle helpin’ out?”

“Only if the others don’t object. And so long as he doesn’t start any fights.” Rick looked at Daryl intensely. “I know he’s your brother and you love him. But you more than anyone know his hotheadedness can be dangerous to himself and others. You said you can keep him under control. I’ll let you try and prove it. Maybe it’ll work better if I’m not around. I know he acts up even more for my benefit.”

Daryl was a bit surprised that Rick could be so perceptive. Then again, he was a sheriff’s deputy for many years. He probably dealt with a lot of people like Merle.

“I won’t let you down,” Daryl said.

“I know you won’t. I’m not sure you even could,” Rick said, still looking at Daryl with those intense eyes. Daryl felt like Rick was trying to tell him something more than what his words were saying, but damn if he could figure out what. He shivered a bit, then looked away to study some walkers on the grass outside the fence.

“Who you gonna take on your run, then?” he asked.

I’ll take Michonne,” Rick said, turning to head back into the prison.

“After the way she just abandoned you last night?” Daryl asked, falling into step with Rick.

“She had personal reasons for that. She should be okay. But either way, we’ll know for sure if she’s with us. And if not, it’ll be easier to take care of her on a run than here. I’ll take Carl, too. I think he’s ready. It would be good to ease him in with something quick. We should just be in and out.”

Daryl nodded. When they got back to the prison, Rick told Carl about his plan and that they would go tomorrow or the next day, depending on Michonne’s recovery. Carl looked so happy he was about to burst and ran off quickly to start making preparations.

Rick and Glenn started planning with the others on ways to fortify their position in the prison. Axel knew of some places they could get extra materials and Allen and Ben offered to go with him to help carry them. Daryl took Tyreese and Sasha to create a small area for target practice. 

~~*~~

The next day rushed by in a flurry of activity. Michonne was not ready to go with Rick and Carl yet, so they delayed their trip. Everyone helped out in adding pallets and tables as shields to fenced-in areas and with creating barriers to help cover people going from the cell block to the guard towers and other areas while under fire.

Daryl and Merle took everyone a couple at a time to the target practice area to assess their current weapon skills and to practice. It turned out that Merle was actually surprisingly helpful here, especially with the people who hadn’t met him before. He got along well with Allen and Ben. Daryl was pleased to find that his brother was even able to keep his racism under control around Tyreese and Sasha. Maybe being around the group in Woodbury had been good for him in some ways. Even Carol seemed to warm to him a bit.

Merle’s sarcasm was on the mean side, but he was able to stop himself before he got too cruel. He said he helped out on the gun range during his time in the military and a bit in Woodbury also, so he picked up some tricks about training how to use the various guns. Daryl had always struggled with that somewhat himself. Most of it came so naturally to him that he was not sure how to explain it to someone else. Merle, on the other hand, had recently been forced to re-teach himself how to use everything with his left hand.

Daryl stuck to giving lessons about the crossbow and tips for walking stealthily and for close combat with knives and other weapons. No one seemed really suited to the bow, at least not without massive amounts of practice, but everyone from the new group was pretty good with a knife and Tyreese really excelled with his hatchet.

Glenn and Maggie, who absolutely refused to have anything to do with Merle, continued working on the fortifications throughout.

It was nearing evening. Rick was working with a group outside near the guard tower when he heard a loud yell from the roof of the cell block. He looked up and saw Daryl gesturing wildly. He looked out of the fence at the woods beyond and didn’t see anything, but Daryl’s higher position must have allowed him to see something Rick couldn’t.

“Let’s go,” Rick said, and the group ran inside. Just as they got to the doors, Rick noticed a struggle was taking place in one of the further gun towers. Since they had more people, they could have more lookouts. Axel and Carol had been on watch in that tower. Axel seemed to be wrestling with someone dressed entirely in black. Carol was hitting the intruder on the back, but didn’t seem to be making much of an impact. Before Rick could decide on a next step, Axel and the other person went over the railing, falling several stories to the ground with a sickening thud. 

At the same time, shots started coming from behind the fence. A large pickup truck was parked right outside the gate. A number of people were shooting semi-automatic weapons toward them. They didn’t seem to be too concerned about whether their shots hit anything or not. Or about conserving ammo.

Rick entered the cell block, slammed the door shut, and did a quick head count. He and Tyreese’s group had made it inside. Daryl was on the roof. He knew where Carol and Axel were. Beth was holding a crying Judith. Hershel was sitting at a table, readying his rifle. Carl was looking anxiously to his father.

Where the hell was everyone else? Rick had to trust that they knew what they were doing and would take care of themselves.

“Carl, take Beth and Judith into your cell,” Rick ordered. When Carl screwed up his face to protest, Rick beat him to it. “I need you to protect them!” Carl nodded and led Beth away with a hand on the small of her back.

“Hershel, Tyreese,” he continued, “kill anyone who comes through that door that ain’t one of us.” They nodded, Hershel aiming his rifle at the door and Tyreese standing at the ready with his hatchet. “Sasha, Allen, Ben, grab a gun and come with me up to the roof. Rick took up a long range rifle with a powerful scope and matching ammunition and handed them to Sasha, then another for himself. He told Allen and Ben to grab whatever they were most comfortable with.

When the four of them bust open the door on the roof, Daryl swung his gun on them. He looked relieved to see the group.

“I think there’s just three of ‘em down there,” Daryl said.

“Let’s all set up along the half-wall here,” Rick said, gesturing to the small wall that ran along the edge of the flat roof.

“Michonne is pinned down near that bus,” Daryl said, gesturing.

“Fuck,” Rick said. “At least she’s got some cover. Let’s offer her a little more.” Rick primed his weapon. “Don’t shoot unless you have a good shot,” he said to the group. “We don’t know how long we’ll be stuck in this position.” 

Rick looked through his scope. He could see the Governor down at the gate. The fucker was actually smiling. He was spraying bullets everywhere, like he thought he was Al Pacino in _Scarface_. He really was a sociopath. Rick started aiming and shooting and the rest followed suit, Carol joining in from her position in the guard tower. Several of their shots hit the truck, but none really came close to hitting the Governor or his people. Michonne was shooting, too. She wasn’t having any luck, either, despite how close she was. 

Rick looked over the wall and saw Glenn and Maggie running out, wearing their riot gear, following the barriers they’d built to the guard tower. When they got to the top of the tower, they started using their automatic weapons. They were a little closer to the Governor and their weapons were a bit more powerful. One of them hit the Governor in the thigh. He swore and dove in to the truck.

Suddenly, Merle popped up just a few yards away from the gate. He had created his own camouflage jacket out of dried grasses. He must have belly-crawled the whole way there. He shot at the two by the truck. They had a lot of cover from the doors, but he managed to clip one of them in the shoulder.

“Rick!” Daryl shouted, pointing to where another vehicle was barreling down the road toward the prison.

Rick looked. What the hell was that? Reinforcements? The delivery truck drove straight toward the gate. But, it didn’t stop as Rick expected. Rather, it drove right through both fences and stopped in the middle of the yard. The back came down and dozens of walkers started pouring out. The driver jumped out of the truck and ran to join the Governor’s group outside the fence. Merle and Michonne each took several shots at him, but his body armor protected him. As soon as he got to the pickup, the other two piled in and they took off.

“Shit!” Rick exclaimed. “Start aimin’ at the walkers!”

He and the group on the roof started shooting at the zombies. More started to make their way to the new holes in the fence, brought in by the noise. “We gotta get that gap closed!” Rick yelled.

“I got it,” Daryl said, jumping up and running to the door.

“Let’s get closer,” Rick said. He led the group out into the yard. Daryl was a hundred yards ahead of them running out toward the delivery truck. Merle was also out there, attacking as many walkers as he could and trying to catch up to his brother. The two of them were stabbing and shooting walkers as they ran toward the truck. Michonne was holding her own and taking out the walkers near the bus as she tried to make her way back toward the prison. Glenn and Maggie were also keeping up a steady stream of bullets. Walkers were falling down all over the place.

The truck roared to life once again and Daryl drove it toward the gate. He turned it sideways in front of the gaping hole to block any more walkers from getting in, although the gap between the fences continued to fill.

There were still more than twenty walkers roaming the yard, but the immediate danger had passed. “Hold your fire!” Rick yelled to the group at large. “Let’s regroup!”

He gestured to everyone to meet up back inside the prison and they all jogged there. Once inside, he checked first on Beth, Carl and Judith. Seeing they were okay, he told them to come out and went back to the common area. The group had gathered in a circle. Everyone was there now, sweaty and anxious, but none the worse for wear. Except Axel of course.

“What the fuck was that?” Glenn asked rhetorically.

“That was the Governor ringin’ your doorbell and sayin’ hello.” Merle answered. “He was checkin’ out your defenses. If he’da wanted to kill you all, he’da come in with more firepower. I told you, we got an armored Humvee with mounted weapons. The fact he didn’t bring it means this was just a test.”

“Did we pass or fail?” Rick asked.

“I’d say it was a draw. You lost one. He lost one. Plus, I got Shumpert in the shoulder and I saw the Governor got it in the leg,” Merle said, smiling. “Shame I couldn’t do it myself.”

“So, now we just wait until he comes back with a bigger group and better-armed?” Rick said.

“No way,” Glenn said. “Now we take the fight back to him. We slipped inside before. We could do it again. We have to take him out before he comes back.”

“They probably closed up the holes in their defenses that you snuck in before,” Hershel said. “And I expect they’ve increased their guards on duty. It’s highly unlikely you’d get in and, even if you did, you wouldn’t all make it back.”

“I don’t care!” Glenn said, his anger clear. “I’m sick of this. It’s time we finished it once and for all.”

“He’s injured now. That should buy us some time,” Hershel continued reasonably.

“He was injured this time and it didn’t slow him down any. It’s only been a couple of days since Michonne stabbed him in the fucking eye!!” Glenn exclaimed. Maggie grabbed his arm and started comforting him by rubbing down it with her palms.

“I’m with Daddy,” Maggie said, looking apologetically at Glenn. “We’ve had time to shore up our defenses since we last met up with him. So has he. Woodbury’s got ten times as many people as we do and more weapons. It’s too dangerous.”

“We can still run,” Merle said.

“We ain’t runnin’” Daryl snapped back, irritated to have the same conversation over and over.

“Enough!” Rick said to the group. “We’re stayin’ put. We ain’t goin’ to Woodbury and we ain’t runnin’. We take a stand. We keep doin’ what we’ve been doin’. We take any time we get to set up traps and surprises. He knows what our defenses are right now. Let’s make sure that’s not what they are the next time he comes.”

Rick looked around the group and tried to meet everyone’s eye. Almost everyone nodded when they looked at him, Glenn grudgingly so. Only Merle refused, but that was nothing less than what Rick expected.

“First things first,” Rick said. “Tomorrow, I gotta go on that run and get more weapons. I’m takin’ Michonne and Carl. The rest of you gotta finish clearin’ the yard. It’s bad enough we have walkers back in the tombs. We can’t have them out there, too.” Rick turned to Carol and put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m real sorry, Carol. I know you and Axel were gettin’ close. At least he died a hero, helpin’ you.”

Carol’s eyes welled up a bit and she nodded. “Yeah. It was a good way to go, I guess. And on my way back, I stabbed him and the other guy so they wouldn’t turn.”

Rick squeezed her shoulder, then let go. “We’ll give him a proper burial as soon as we can.” He turned to the group at large. “We did the best we could, with minimal loss of life. We all did our jobs. For now, let’s get to bed and deal with cleanin’ this up in the morning. I’ll take first watch.”

Everyone was exhausted and didn’t take much convincing. When Rick entered his cell a couple hours later, having been relieved by Daryl, he collapsed in his bunk, Judith in her box on the floor next to him. Although he had his own cell, Carl had opted to stay with Rick in his top bunk instead. When Judith fussed a few hours later, it was Carl who woke up and fed her. Rick was dead to the world.

~~*~~

Rick, Michonne and Carl left on their run early the next day. Daryl saw them off at the gate. He didn’t have the best feeling about this, but he couldn’t come up with any concrete reason for Rick not to go. They needed those weapons.

Tyreese’s group sat around a table in the common area, eating breakfast and discussing their options in a heated whisper.

“We should just go,” Allen said. “We haven’t even been here three days and we have psychos with machine guns attacking us. We barely know these people. How is this our fight? I’d rather take my chances out there with the walkers!”

“No way,” Tyreese said. “It’s our fight because we agreed to it. They warned us and we said we still wanted to stay. They’ve been good to us. We’re not backing out now.”

Allen scoffed.

“I know you remember what it was like out there,” Sasha said passionately. “Here we have a roof over our head. Food. Walls. We help them take out this threat and then we can build a home here.”

“Or we get shot and die for no reason at all,” Allen said.

“We won’t just have the walkers to contend with,” Sasha continued. “We might have to deal with that Governor, too. Or, if not him, some other crazy person. I’d rather stick with people I know aren’t going to stab me in my sleep.”

“We’ve seen bad people,” Tyreese said. “Rick and his group aren’t like them. If we leave, we won’t just be going back on our word. We’ll be leaving these people, good people, less defended. Is that the kind of man you want to be? The kind of example you want to set for Ben?”

“Fuck you!” Allen said to Tyreese. “I want Ben to be alive, not shot getting in the middle of a fight we have no business being in.”

“Not to get in the way of all your posturing,” Ben broke in sarcastically, “but if it matters to you two at all, I want to stay. You should figure out your drama.” With that, he stood up and walked to a table across the room where Beth was feeding Judith.

Allen threw up his hands. “You win, I guess,” he said to Tyreese and left the table. He planned to walk back to his cell, but stopped when Glenn came in to hand out assignments. “Once the yard is clear, we can go back to what we were doing before this all started,” Glenn said to everyone. “Tyreese, my group will show your group how we cleared the yard the first time.”

Daryl, Maggie and Glenn demonstrated their strategy of staying together in a circle with their backs facing in, moving as a unit. They decided Tyreese and Merle would join their circle when they went outside. It gave Glenn a bit of a pause, remembering that, not too long ago, T-Dog had been in that circle with them. Sasha, being one of the better shots, would take up the post in the guard tower, but would only shoot if the group got in serious trouble. They’d brought enough walkers down on them with the noise as it was. Carol, Allen and Ben would take knives and pokers down to the fence to try to start taking out the walkers that had gathered between the fences and were already pushing, trying to take down the inner fence.

Everything went according to plan and the yard was empty within an hour. Then they moved the delivery truck to block the outer fence and went between the fences to clear out the few walkers that remained. Carol’s group had taken care of most of them.

They fashioned a sled of sorts out of a pallet and rope and dragged the bodies a few at a time to a far off corner of the yard. Once they were all gathered, Daryl set them on fire. 

Glenn got a group together to start repairing the gates and everyone else went back to the jobs they’d been doing before the Governor arrived.

Daryl worried a bit when night fell and Rick still wasn’t back, but he knew that didn’t necessarily mean anything. Rick’s old town was far enough away that it was unlikely he could make it there and back in a day unless everything went perfectly.

Still, when Daryl saw the Hyundai pulling up to the gates the following day, he felt a huge weight lifting off him. Hershel and Beth opened the gates and Daryl and the others walked over to help unload the car. When Rick emerged, Daryl gave him a visual once over, eyes hesitating on the fresh blood on his shoulder.

“What happened there?” Daryl asked, pointing to Rick’s shoulder.

“I’m fine,” Rick said, brushing off the concern. “Let’s get this stuff inside and get Michael settled.”

“Michael? What?” Daryl said, noticing an unexpected fourth person getting out of the car, carrying a large orange backpack.

“Everyone, this is Michael,” Rick said, quickly naming off everyone standing around.

Daryl pulled Rick aside while the group started bringing the bags of guns and ammunition inside.

“What the hell, Rick?”

“What? You’re the one who said I had to start trusting people. He was going to die without us. We found him on the road. He’d been hiking the Appalachian Trail with a group when everything started. They didn’t even know for a while. But, they figured it out pretty quick when his boyfriend fell off the trail on a narrow portion and broke his neck, then came back later as a walker. Michael’s the only one left from his group. I tried to tell him how dangerous our situation is, but he was desperate and still begged to come with us. He says he hasn’t seen another living person in at least four months. He obviously has really good survival skills. He could help with hunting and foraging.”

Daryl couldn’t fault him his logic. He had encouraged expanding the group. He just wished he could have been there to help Rick make the decision.

“Just come inside and meet him,” Rick said, walking over to the car and grabbing out a bag, wincing a bit and transferring the load to his other shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll like him.”

Daryl followed and grabbed another bag. “This was all at your old station? I didn’t think you’d be so well-armed.”

“We weren’t exactly. Some of this was ours and some is from other places. Remember me telling you about Morgan?”

Daryl nodded. “I think so. He the one you used to talk to in the mornings on your walkie talkie?”

It was Rick’s turn to nod. “Yeah. That’s him. Things haven’t been going so well for him. He lost his son and then he kinda lost his mind. I just kept thinking that could have been me, if I didn’t have you.” Rick reddened a bit and looked away. “I mean, if I didn’t have the group here. If I was all alone like Morgan.” He cleared his throat. “Anyways, he started collecting guns from all over and turned half of Main Street into a war zone. He kills and burns any walkers that come his way. I tried to help him, to get him to back with us, but he’s not ready.”

“How’d everything go with Michonne?” Daryl asked.

Rick smiled. “I think she’s gonna be fine. She proved she’s one of us. Passed all of Carl’s tests, at least.” Rick winced again and resituated the bag he was carrying. It took everything in Daryl not to reach over and take it from him.

“So, is Morgan the one that stabbed you?” Daryl asked.

“I told you I’m fine,” Rick said.

“I’ll believe that when Hershel tells me,” Daryl answers, walking ahead of Rick to enter the prison and dump his bag on the table with the others. Everyone was excitedly sorting through the weapons and ammo. Glenn was handing out boxes to different people to stash all over the prison, just in case.

Rick added his bag to the pile and told everyone he was going to take a nap and take watch later that night. Daryl walked over to Hershel and asked him to check in on Rick, then followed behind as the old man hobbled up the stairs on his crutches.

Rick was in the middle of changing his shirt when they got to his cell. He turned in surprise when he heard them enter. He was about to say something when Daryl interrupted.

“I swear, if you say ‘I’m fine’ one more time, I’ll stab you again myself. Just let the man take a look at it. Jesus Christ!”

Rick held up his hands. “I guess I will, seeing as it’s so important to you.”

“Would you go get my bag, please?” Hershel asked Daryl, who nodded and headed downstairs. “He’s just worried about you,” Hershel said to Rick and began to probe the injured area a bit with his fingers.

“I know,” Rick said. “But we have more important things to focus on. This’ll heal.”

“It will,” Hershel said in his usual matter-of-fact tone. “But it will heal better with a few stitches and if we clean and cover it to help prevent infection. There’s nothing wrong with letting someone take care of you once in a while.”

“I’m the one that’s supposed to be taking care of people,” Rick said, getting the glazed look in his eyes again. Sometimes, he could swear he saw Lori in the corners of rooms. He couldn’t decide if she was judging him for everything he’d done wrong in the past year or if she was trying to tell him something. He still wasn’t sure how to feel about her death. He’d vowed to himself that he’d get her somewhere safe and take care of her and Carl and the baby. He knew that he had been a jerk for freezing her out, but every time he thought about talking to her rationally, all this anger would bubble up. He could have dealt with the affair. But, he couldn’t deal with the hatred and fear she’d greeted him with after he’d killed Shane. After she’d convinced him that Shane **had** to be killed. He’d always meant to start talking to her again soon. Now he would never have that chance.

Daryl walked in and the vision of Lori disappeared. He handed the medical bag to Hershel, who opened it and started treating Rick.

“You do take care of us,” Daryl said gently, “but you’re no good to us dead. Let us help you.”

Hershel poured some hydrogen peroxide on Rick’s wound. Rick hissed and grabbed Daryl’s hand tightly. After a couple of seconds, he seemed to realize what he’d done. He dropped Daryl’s hand right away and his cheeks got very red. In fact, since he wasn’t wearing a shirt, Daryl was able to watch the blush travel over his entire neck and chest.

Daryl’s heart started beating faster and his breathing sped up, though he wasn’t sure why. He couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from Rick’s flushed chest.

Hershel threaded a needle and held the point over the open flame of a lighter. “I’m not going to lie. This is going to hurt,” he said, pulling the skin of Rick’s shoulder together with his fingers. “Actually, Daryl, could you help out here?”

Daryl started to feel a bit nauseous at the thought of holding Rick’s skin together while he got stitches. “I’m gonna go get Carol to help you,” he said, walking quickly from the room.

Rick and Hershel both chuckled a bit at his quick exit. “He can gut and skin a deer, but this makes him squeamish,” Rick said in disbelief.

“I think it’s different when it’s someone you care about,” Hershel said.

Rick wanted to ask what he meant by that, but stopped himself. He was not sure he really wanted to know. He certainly wasn’t sure how he felt about Daryl. All he knew was that he would be lost without him. If they were all in a boat that was sinking, Daryl was the rock that Rick could cling to. He was dependable. When Rick wasn’t sure what to think about something, Daryl could be his moral compass. And yet, Rick was often amazed to find Daryl gazing at him like **he** was the one to look up to. It gave him something to strive for, to be the person who deserved Daryl’s respect and admiration.

Carol walked in shortly after that and Rick’s stitches were finished in just a couple of minutes.

He got strict instructions to get a decent night’s sleep and forget about taking watch. For once, he didn’t have it in himself to argue. He rolled onto his side with the good shoulder and was asleep in minutes.

~~*~~

When Rick woke up the next morning, everyone else was already up and about, continuing to work on cleaning and loading the weapons Rick had brought, adding to the fortifications, or doing target practice. Carol was loading gun clips with bullets and occasionally interacting with Judith, who was in her box on the table next to Carol.

She looked up when Rick sat down in front of his daughter and started offering his finger for her to grab.

“How’s your shoulder today?” she asked.

“Pretty good,” he said, rotating his shoulder forward and backward, then raising his arm gently above his head.

“I’ll get you some breakfast and some aspirin,” she said, walking off.

Rick continued playing with Judith. Michael walked in and took the seat next to him.

“You have a beautiful daughter,” Michael said.

“Thanks,” Rick replied.

“I wanted to thank you again for taking me in,” Michael said, looking at Rick somewhat adoringly. He reached out to grasp Rick’s forearm. “This is paradise compared to how I’ve been living. Everyone is really nice.” 

“No problem,” Rick said, blushing under the praise. He stood quickly and met Carol where she was bringing him a bottle of water and a granola bar in addition to a couple of aspirin. “Thanks,” he told her, quickly swallowing the pills with a gulp of water. I’m gonna be outside checking the fences.”

He nodded to Daryl on his way out, who was just standing in the doorway staring at Michael for some reason.

“Michael,” Daryl said tersely. “Let’s get your weapons training done.”

Michael jumped a bit at the tone, but stood up. “Sure,” he said. “Rick told me you were doing this. I think it’s a great idea. He seems like a terrific leader. You all are so lucky to have found one another.”

As Michael spoke, Daryl seemed to get more and more tense. Carol eyed him curiously.

“We sure are,” Daryl said, practically gritting his teeth, then he turned and set a quick pace outside. Michael jogged to catch up to him.

Daryl pushed weapon after weapon into Michael’s hands, barely giving him time to try one before moving on to the next. He would first demonstrate how to load and fire the gun, then have Michael repeat. He corrected Michael’s stance repeatedly, first just with words, but progressing to nudging his hips, pushing his feet apart, and pulling his shoulders back when words didn’t seem to be working.

Merle watched for a bit from the side, but stepped in after the third time Daryl started criticizing Michael’s aim. “Whoa there, little brother. Why don’t you go help Officer Friendly with the fences?”

“Fine!” Daryl said exasperatedly. “ **You** see if you can get him to hit the target!” With that he stalked off back into the prison.

He walked over to where Carol had started loading clips again. “I don’t know what the fuck Rick was thinking, bringing that guy in here. He’s going to be a sitting duck. He can’t defend himself against walkers or the Governor’s people. He’s fucking useless! ‘Help with hunting and foraging’ my ass! He can’t even hold a gun. How can he help with hunting?”

“He used to set traps for small game, not shoot them,” Carol said in Michael’s defense. “I never used a gun before all this either, and I was able to pick it up. Where’s all this coming from?”

“I don’t know,” Daryl admitted. “I just. I can’t stand him!”

Carol smiled. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with the way he was flirting with Rick, would it?”

Daryl blushed. “No! It has to do with the fact that we’re about to go to war and that guy will only be a burden.”

“Hmm,” Carol hummed knowingly.

“Whatever!” Daryl exclaimed angrily and stomped up the stairs to the roof. He sat there for a couple of hours, keeping watch.

Merle joined him a while later. “Let’s go hunting,” he said.

“Can’t. You said yourself that the Governor could show up any moment.”

“We can’t all stop livin’ waitin’ for that to happen. We won’t go too far and we’ll keep our eyes open. And Sasha’s got the guard tower. She’s probably the best shot of all of us exceptin’ you and me and that sheriff of yours.”

“Fine,” Daryl said, “Long as Michael ain’t comin’.”

“Wow,” Merle said, shaking his head in mock amazement. “I never thought I’d see the day where **I’d** be the reasonable one.”

“Just get your gear and let’s go!” Daryl said, grabbing his crossbow and walking briskly down the stairs.

It wasn’t until they had been outside the fence for several hours and had a string of squirrels each that Merle spoke again. “You ready to talk about it yet?”

“Talk about what?” Daryl asked.

“Whatever the hell crawled up your butt and died. It obviously has something to do with Michael, though I sure as shit can’t figure out what. That guy is as mild-mannered as they come. He couldn’t irritate a fly. If I’d come across him on the outside, I’da just knocked him out and stole his pack. But since _Rick_ is such a _nice guy_ , I guess we’re stuck with him.” It was apparent from the way Merle emphasized Rick’s name and ‘nice guy’ that he was imitating the fawning way that Michael spoke about him.

“He’s gonna get one of us killed. We’re gonna be so busy covering his ass that we’ll miss something. It’s ridiculous. If you can’t take care of yourself, how do you survive in the wild for four months completely alone? Something about that whole story doesn’t sit right with me.”

“I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I think you’re being too hard on him. He can’t use a gun, clearly, and his hand-to-hand is terrible, but he did well with some of the other weapons. He hit the target dead center with a knife thrown from 20 feet. He’s just over eager.”

“Let’s just get back,” Daryl said. “We got enough for dinner. Maybe _Michael_ can set some traps and catch us some rabbits tomorrow.”

Merle just shook his head and started back toward the prison. Dusk was setting in when they got back. They made quick work of skinning the squirrels and brought the meat inside and handed it off to Carol. Daryl took one look at where Michael was sitting practically in Rick’s lap, laughing at something Rick had said, and stalked up to the roof.

That’s still where he was half an hour later, reading the same page for the fifth time, when Rick came up to find him.

“I brought you some stew,” Rick said, offering him a bowl.

“Not hungry,” Daryl said, refusing to look up from his page.

Rick sat on the ground next to his mattress. “You have to eat,” he said, pushing the bowl in between Daryl’s face and his book.

“Fine,” Daryl said angrily, taking one bite, then putting down the bowl. “Happy?”

Rick chose to ignore the tone. “How’s weapon training going?”

“Fine,” Daryl said again, not elaborating.

“For someone who took such issue with me sayin’ ‘fine’ yesterday, it seems to be all you can say today.”

“What the fuck do you want me to say?!” Daryl asked loudly, throwing down his book and throwing up his hands.

“I want you to tell me why you’re so angry at me,” Rick said.

“I’m not angry at you,” Daryl said.

“You’re yelling at me. You’re avoiding me. I was married long enough to know the signs.”

Daryl’s eyes shot up. “We ain’t married.”

Rick rolled his eyes. “I didn’t say we were. I just was sayin’ that I can tell when someone’s mad at me. We’re practically in each other’s pocket most days, but you haven’t said three words to me today before now. And if I wasn’t up here forcing it, who knows when you’d talk to me again.”

“Why’d you bring Michael back here? We don’t need him.”

“I don’t get it. I thought you’d be happy to have someone else to help hunt, especially with the group expanding again. And you won’t be stuck having to be the only one among us with good outdoor survival skills. Carl thought it was a good idea, too. I think you’d like him if you gave him a chance.”

“Well, I don’t like him,” Daryl said sullenly. “I don’t trust him. I don’t like the way he looks at you.”

“I never took you for a homophobe,” Rick said, a tinge of disappointment entering his voice.

“I ain’t a – whatever you said,” Daryl said defensively. “I just don’t like the way he hangs all over you, touchin’ you.”

“Yeah. Like I said. You are offended that he has a crush on me.”

“I ain’t **offended**. I just don’t like him, personally. This ain’t about him bein’ gay or whatever. It’s about him bein’ some kinda con man. He’s just suckin’ up to you. Who knows what he really wants? I don’t know how you don’t see it.”

“I know he’s a bit much right now. It’s just because I was the first person he’d seen in a while and he thinks I rescued him. It used to happen all the time on the force. Women would develop feelings for an officer that helped them out of a jam. We even had to listen to a really boring seminar about it. It’s like a Florence Nightingale thing or something. He’ll get over it eventually.”

Daryl wrinkled his nose and looked off at the fence line.

“All right, then,” Rick said, rising to his feet and brushing his hands down his pants. “I can take a hint. Try and eat something and get a good night’s sleep. Maybe you’ll feel better tomorrow.”

Daryl just huffed in response. Rick walked away and Daryl was left just with his thoughts. Was he homophobic? Was that really what this was all about? He didn’t think so, but maybe. Merle certainly was. They had never had any gay friends – well, any that he knew were gay. He’d never really thought about it before. No. He was not suspicious of Michael **just** because he was gay. He was suspicious of him for very valid, other reasons. But, if Rick didn’t let it bother him, Daryl could try to do the same.

Daryl picked up the forgotten bowl of stew, now long gone cold, and finished it. No sense wasting food. Then he settled in for sleep and didn’t wake up until morning, even when Merle finally joined him on the roof. 

~~*~~

When Daryl woke up the next day, he realized he’d had the weird dream again. The one where he and Rick and Carl and Judith live in a house together and he walks into the kitchen and Rick is cooking breakfast and he turns to look at Daryl and smiles. He’d been having it more and more lately. 

When he was younger, he’d had a lot of dreams about his mom. About her burning in the fire. Sometimes he’d dream that he’d been there and watched it happen, but couldn’t move and couldn’t scream. Sometimes he’d save her and she’d be so happy she’d stop drinking and leave his dad take him and Merle to live far away. He’d also had a lot of nightmares about his dad and his belt or about Merle leaving him to go to juvie or into the Army. He had good dreams sometimes, too, like his favorite about walking through the woods, tracking animals. 

As he aged, his brain added dreams about riding his motorcycle down rural highways, wind rushing through his hair. And he started having some that were vaguely sex related. They just left him confused more than anything. It was mostly just a lot of faceless bodies mashing up against each other. But the dreams about his parents never faded. That’s when he decided that going to sleep drunk or high was preferable. He couldn’t remember much of what happened before he fell asleep, but he wouldn’t be tormented by the dreams either.

When his alcohol and drug supply vanished with the appearance of the walkers, he worried the nightmares would return, and they did a bit. But after he and Merle joined up with the group in Atlanta, he was happy to discover that most of his dreams just became about them. He’d rather dream about living people than be tormented by the dead both while awake and while asleep.

Ever since Rick had joined the group, most of Daryl’s dreams had featured him. Usually, they were his favorite dreams from before, just with Rick added. They were together in the woods, tracking, and Rick was good at it instead of tromping around like he did in real life. Or they were fishing, water lapping against the boat and cicadas ringing in the air. Or they were riding on Daryl’s motorcycle together, Rick’s arms wound tightly around Daryl’s stomach. Sometimes, his brain invented crazy mash-ups and put them together in the old world where they had never met, relaxing on a couch, watching tv and drinking beer. 

He still had the vague sex dreams, too, but they became a little more defined. He still couldn’t see faces, but he had the inexplicable sensation that Rick was there. He couldn’t see him, but he had the same feeling of security he had when he was awake and standing next to Rick. Maybe they were just from Rick’s point of view. Maybe he spent so much time around Rick that now he was dreaming that he **was** Rick. He was not sure.

But the house one was the most unsettling yet. He couldn’t get over the way Rick smiled at him in the dream. Or the way it made him feel.

Daryl stretched his arms over his head and tried to scratch the dream out of his head. When Daryl came down to the common area, Michael was sorting through and folding a bunch of clothes they’d found in the laundry room the previous day.

“Daryl!” he exclaimed happily. “I’m so glad I caught you.”

“Okay,” Daryl said slowly, trying to figure out why someone he’d been so mean to would be so happy to see him.

“I have to apologize,” Michael said, coming to stand next to Daryl. Michael looked around to make sure they were alone and lowered his voice a bit before continuing. “I had no idea that you and Rick were seeing each other. No wonder you’ve been so standoffish. I never would have flirted with him like that if I’d known.”

Daryl’s eyes bulged a bit.

“Don’t worry,” Michael continued. “Merle told me it’s a secret. I know what that’s like. Just know that I’ve got your back. And whenever you two are ready to come out publicly, know you have my full support.”

“Uh . . . Thank you?” Daryl said, not sure what else to say. If he denied that he was together with Rick, he’d both be saying that his own brother was a liar and he might offend Michael. Besides, anything that got Michael to stop flirting with Rick couldn’t be all bad.

“No problem at all,” Michael said, grasping and releasing Daryl’s forearm in a quick show of friendliness. “Carol’s got Judith and Beth is out training with Merle. Can I get you anything?”

“Naw. I’m good,” Daryl said, moving toward the door. “See you later.”

“Sure thing,” Michael said, smile still in place.

Daryl joined Merle on their practice field. He was sitting on a chair dragged from inside, watching Beth pretend to stab walkers with her knife. His eyes raked over her a bit lasciviously as he encouraged her to lunge more.

“Beth, you go on inside now.” Daryl said.

“Okay,” Beth said, sheathing her knife and waving to Merle as she left. “Thanks, Merle.”

Daryl just looked at his brother.

“What?” Merle said defensively. “She asked me for advice on her technique. That’s what I’m here for, ain’t it?”

“You don’t gotta stare at her like a piece of meat.”

“Ain’t no big deal. I got the picture. Don’t worry. I’ll look. I won’t touch. Unless she touches first, then all bets are off.”

Daryl rolled his eyes. “Like that’s gonna happen.”

“You never know, little brother. Pickin’s are awful slim around here. It’s me or a 12-year-old or a gay guy. Everyone else is taken.”

“First of all, don’t forget about Ben. There is someone here exactly her age. And secondly, Rick and I ain’t ‘taken.’ Why’d you tell Michael that we’re together?”

Merle laughed. “Is that what’s got your panties in a bunch? It’s practically the truth anyhow. Any moron could tell you was jealous.”

“Jealous?” Daryl repeated incredulously.

“Yeah. Michael was flirtin’ with your man. It drove you nuts. I told him to stop. End of story.”

“Until Rick figures out what you did and gets mad.”

“What’s he got to get mad about? He didn’t like Michael flirtin’ with him any more’n you did. He was just too polite or some shit to tell him to stop. So I solved the problem.”

“What’s to make Michael keep believin’ that it’s true? We don’t act like a couple.”

Merle laughed again. “That’s a good one.” Then he pulled out his tried and true Daryl imitation. It was the shrill one that in no way sounded like Daryl, but was designed specifically to irritate his brother. _“Rick’s a good man. Lemme talk to Rick. I wonder what Rick’s doin’ right now.”_ Merle giggled at his own joke. “‘We don’t act like a couple,’ my ass. You two are forever lookin’ out for each other and feedin’ each other and touchin’ each other. I’d swear you was a couple myself if I didn’t know that your uptight ass wasn’t getting’ any. Speakin’ of,” Merle reached into his backpack that was sitting on the ground near his chair and pulled out a magazine. “I found this while I was lookin’ for any good contraband in the cells. Thought you might have a use for it.”

Merle handed the very beat-up magazine to Daryl. The cover featured a stylized GT and a half-naked man. “What’s this?” Daryl said, paging through the magazine quickly, eyes going wide and face turning beet red. He quickly closed the magazine and stuck it in the back of his pants, pulling his shirt over it. “Why would I need that?” He asked in a loud whisper.

“’Cause anyone with eyes can see you need to beat it somethin’ awful. Eat, drink, and jerk off today, for tomorrow we may die. Just thought I’d give you a little inspiration. When’s the last time you did it, anyway?”

“I ain’t talkin’ about this with you.”

“That long, eh? You and Rick oughta take a page from the lovebirds’ book. Maggie and the china man hit it at least once a day. They just sneak off somewhere and show up later looking much more relaxed. You and Rick both got sticks up your asses. You could do with some relaxin’.”

Daryl began to retort, but knew he’d only dig himself deeper into this conversation when what he really wanted was for it to be over. “Glenn’s Korean,” he said, trying to end the discussion on a different note. “I’ma go look out from the roof,” he said, quickly turning and walking back toward the prison.

Merle laughed and called out loudly: “Whatever you say, little bro. I’ll be sure to steer clear and give you and little Daryl some private time!”

Daryl just clenched his teeth and kept walking. What the hell was that about? Merle was being really weird. He used to throw around words like fag and fairy all the time and mock men for drinking wine or wearing purple. Merle had a very distinct picture in his mind of what it meant to be a man, and he allowed very little deviation from that. Daryl remembered the time when he was in middle school and told Merle he was thinking of trying out for the track team. Merle said no brother of his was going to be a fudge packer and beat him up until he said he wouldn’t try out. His objections usually made no sense, but Daryl got the point. Merle didn’t like gay people. Gay people were not okay. Not equal to everybody else. They deserved being beat up or ostracized. Now he was supportive all of a sudden? It had to have been some kind of sick joke.

~~*~~

Rick looked over at Merle and Daryl’s exchange from his place in the guard tower closest to C-Block. He was working with Glenn and Maggie to fix up a sharpshooter’s nest. They were mounting several of their larger guns so the shooter could kneel behind the relative safety of the cover but still have good coverage to fire on intruders.

“What do you think about that?” Rick asked the couple, gesturing toward where Merle still sat.

“About Merle and Daryl?” Maggie asked. Rick nodded. “Seems like it’s just brotherly razzing. Merle goes farther than most would, but Daryl seems used to it.”

“It’s going way better than I expected,” Glenn said in agreement. “I figured Merle would have gotten into a fist fight with someone by now. Probably you.”

“I’ve been steerin’ clear, tryin’ to give him a chance to settle in. I know his type. The more I try to boss him, the more he’ll get in my face, just as a matter of pride. But you let me know if you think I need to step in. I won’t tolerate infighting.”

“He’s still on best behavior. Well, best being a relative term for him,” Maggie said, dragging a bandana across her sweaty forehead. “It gives me the willies the way he looks at Beth, but it seems like he’s been real helpful to Daryl in getting everyone caught up on how to use all the guns and such.”

“I wonder what’s going to happen when he starts forgetting about best behavior,” Glenn said, finishing screwing down the last bracket. 

“Maybe he won’t,” Maggie said.

Glenn kept his reservations to himself and pretended to keep screwing even though he was done. He was the only one of the three of them that had lived with Merle for any length of time. Eventually, something was bound to happen. Someone would piss him off or he’d find some liquor and get drunk or he’d want to take something someone else had. He just hoped he or Daryl or Rick would be able to step in before someone got hurt. Everything seemed fine now, but it was like living with an open flame in a house full of oily rags. At some point, something was going to catch on fire.

“We’ll just all keep our eyes open for trouble,” Rick said, ending the conversation. In truth, he’d been pleasantly surprised. He thought having Merle around would cause Daryl to fall into old patterns. That had been one of his great fears in all this – that Daryl would go back to being the sullen man of before, falling into his brother’s shadow and just fading away. Rick needed him as he was. He relied on him every day to help him get through all this. But Daryl seemed to be holding his own with Merle. “What’s next on our list?” he asked Glenn.

Glenn pulled a worn piece of paper and a tiny golf pencil out of his back pocket and looked at them. “We gotta dig some holes.” After seeing all of Morgan’s booby traps, Rick had come up with the idea to put a couple on their land. They had decided to create traps and cover them so intruders would fall in. They might also double as good places to hide a shooter if they had the time and opportunity to get there before an attack.

“Diggin’, huh?” Rick said, looking at his two worn-out companions. “I’ll get Tyreese’s group to help with that one. You and Maggie work on getting the cage over there ready as another perch.”

“Okay,” Glenn said, grabbing Maggie’s hand and hurrying down the steps of the tower. Glenn had scoped that out earlier as a great place to make out with Maggie. He was eager to get over there and try it out.

Rick descended the stairs after them and went into the prison to find Tyreese.

Michael walked up to him and handed him a bottle of water. “Rick,” he said, smiling. “Just the man I wanted to see.”

Rick stopped himself from rolling his eyes. He reminded himself that Michael was just being friendly. Rick could deal with him the same way he dealt with the old ladies on his beat that always wanted to invite him in for coffee and stale cookies. “Hi, Michael. Good day?”

“Excellent,” Michael said. “Listen, I already apologized to Daryl, but I owe you one, too. I would never dream of getting between you two. I’m sorry I came on so strongly. You’re just so,” he gestured to Rick’s body with his hand, “handsome.”

Rick cocked his head, trying to figure out what Michael was saying. He was sorry for coming between him and Daryl? Well, Daryl had been awful mad at him for taking Michael in. And it had been a bit of a problem. Good for Michael taking the higher ground and apologizing to Daryl for irritating him when really he hadn’t done anything wrong. Rick thought again that he’d made the right call bringing Michael back.

“No problem,” Rick said. “You’re new. It takes a while to learn the new personalities. Daryl’s just a little particular sometimes.”

“You would know,” Michael said, wiggling his eyebrows and gently nudging Rick with his elbow.

Weird, Rick thought. “Well, no harm, no foul,” Rick said, looking around for Tyreese. “You seen Tyreese or his sister?”

“I think they’re in the lower level, or what do you guys call it, the tombs? They’re practicing taking out walkers.”

“Thanks,” Rick said, saluting Michael with his water bottle and heading off to find Tyreese. 

~~*~~

Rick and Tyreese’s group were just finishing up with digging the last hole when Sasha pointed outside the gates.

“Who’s that?” she asked.

Rick looked over to see a very disheveled Andrea, forcing a walker whose arms had been cut off to walk in front of her. Behind her a few feet was a meek-looking man, wearing glasses and clothes in much better condition than Rick had seen in a while.

“That’s far enough,” Rick called over to them, jogging up to the gate and raising his gun on them. Tyreese’s group followed and Rick could see most of the rest of the group coming to join them from inside the prison or elsewhere in the yard.

“We’re not here to cause trouble,” Andrea said. She stabbed her walker through the head and raised her hands up. “We just want to talk.”

“How do I know I can trust you?” Rick said, still holding up his gun.

“Rick, you know me,” Andrea said in a surprised tone.

“Yeah, and I know your boyfriend, too. He was here not two days ago and tried to kill us all. He **did** kill one of us. Sprayed us with bullets and drove a truck filled with walkers right up to our front door.”

“And you killed five of us when you came into town. It’s enough killing, don’t you think? I just want to stop this before it goes too far.”

“It’s already gone too far,” Rick said, punctuating his answer by punching the air with the gun.

The rest of the group had reached them. Daryl joined Rick, standing slightly behind him, looking over at the two newcomers. 

“Let’s hear her out,” Daryl said. “She’s right. We do know her. She wouldn’t do anything to hurt us.”

“What about him,” Rick said, pointing the gun at the other man.

“This is Milton,” Andrea said. “He just came with me to make sure I got here all right. Can we go inside and sit down? Have a civil conversation?”

“He’s the Governor’s lackey,” Michonne said with disdain, pointing at Milton. “I don’t think you can trust him.”

“I’ll stay out here with him,” Hershel said. “It will be fine.”

Rick looked dubious. But he really did want to talk to Andrea. He was all for stopping this war before any more of his family got hurt. Milton didn’t look violent, but you could never tell anymore. He didn’t want Hershel out here alone.

Rick put his gun away and turned to Tyreese. “You stay, too.”

Tyreese nodded.

Rick walked up to the newcomers and patted them down, taking away their weapons.

“Is this really necessary?” Andrea asked, hands on her head during the pat down.

“It is if you want to talk.” Rick said, handing the weapons off to Daryl. “You’ll get ‘em back.”

Then Rick took a bandana from his back pocket and fashioned it into a blindfold. If he was bringing her inside, he’d be damned if he was going to show her all the new fortifications they’d put together since the Governor’s last visit. If she was going to turn on them, he didn’t need to let her in on all their secrets. Andrea rolled her eyes as he was putting the blindfold on her, but submitted without comment.

Rick and Daryl each took an arm and led her up the path to the prison. When they were sitting in the common area, Rick looked around to make sure nothing really important was visible. After he thought it was safe, he removed the blindfold and sat down opposite Andrea. Everyone else sat or stood nearby, watching Rick and Andrea.

“I’m real glad to see you alive and well,” Rick said. “We thought you’d died that night at the farm or we woulda gone back for you. We didn’t know until we saw you at Woodbury. Michonne has filled us in on what you did this winter. Sounds like it was tough on you.”

“I think the winter was tough on all of us,” she said.

A few feet away, Judith began fussing. Beth, who was holding her, started bouncing her and talking to her softly. Andrea’s face broke into a smile. “Can I?” she asked. Rick nodded and indicated to Beth it was okay. Beth brought Judith over to show Andrea, but didn’t let her go.

Andrea cooed at the baby and played with her fingers. When she looked around, her smile dropped. “Lori?” she asked.

Rick shook his head. “We lost her and T-Dog a little while ago,” he said.

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “And Shane?”

“He didn’t make it off the farm,” Rick said. He decided not to tell Andrea everything. She had gotten very close with Shane in those last weeks and was usually on his side. She probably wouldn’t understand what he’d had to do.

Andrea bowed her head. “I see there’s some new people, though.”

“Yeah,” Rick said, introducing her to Sasha, Allen, Ben and Michael. “Tyreese is out with your friend. We met Tyreese’s group here and I found Michael on the road.”

“It’s good you’re taking in people,” Andrea said. “Most people aren’t so trusting anymore.”

“These are good people,” Rick said firmly. “Good people that your boyfriend wants to destroy.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Andrea said.

“Sure looked that way to me,” Merle said in disagreement. Daryl shot him a look to tell him to shut up.

“Me, too,” Michonne said, a hint of disgust in her voice.

Andrea decided that telling them the truth about her relationship with Philip wouldn’t help anything. “I don’t let him do my thinking for me,” Andrea said. “Tell me your side of all this.”

“We just wanted to get Glenn and Maggie back. He was holding them captive,” Rick said.

“He was going to execute us,” Maggie said.

“And worse,” Glenn said meaningfully. Andrea shivered at his tone. She could guess what that meant.

“But how did he get them to begin with?” Andrea said. She found it hard to believe that Philip would just snatch up decent people who were minding their own business. They must have been doing something, like trying to break into the town to scope it out.

“Merle took us,” Glenn spat out, looking over at Merle angrily.

“Only because you stupid assholes wouldn’t bring me to Daryl!” Merle said in his defense, pointing at Glenn and Maggie. “And now here I am anyway. Bet you’re kickin’ yourself now, ain’t you? Think how much better everything would be if you’da just listened to me.”

“Now’s not the time, Merle!” Daryl said, glaring at him.

Merle glared back, but backed off of Glenn. “Besides, I had to bring in somethin’ to distract the Governor,” he said. “He’d sent me to kill Michonne and I’d failed, but the whole group with me was dead. If I went back to town empty handed and alone, he woulda been furious.”

Andrea looked at Michonne to see if she’d verify Merle’s story. “I told you he would never just let us leave,” she said. “If you had come with me, he would have tried to kill you, too. He’s crazy. Did you see the heads in his secret room? The pet walker he had?”

“Yes,” Andrea said. She had been very unsettled by all of that. But who among them hadn’t gone at least a little extreme by now? “He told me it was just to help remind him what he’s fighting for.”

“Even the helicopter pilot we rescued at the same time as you?” Merle said slyly. “You saw his head?”

“Lieutenant Welles?” Andrea questioned. “I didn’t really notice any particular people, just that there were a lot of them. How did **his** head get in there?”

“Because the Governor killed the good lieutenant,” Merle said. “In cold blood. Just like he did the rest of his outfit. Just pretended to wave a white flag to get close, then gunned them down and took their gear like it was nothin’. Just like he’s done dozens of times before. People don’t have to piss him off for him to kill them. They just have to be in his way.”

“And that’s exactly what he means to do to us,” Rick said. “He’s gonna kill us because we’re in his way.”

Andrea looked slightly horrified. She knew that Philip was darker than the face he’d shown to her at first, but what she was hearing now? It couldn’t be true.

“Think about it,” Michonne said. “You’re a smart person. Don’t be drawn in by his charm. Really think. If the National Guard group was attacked by walkers, why were there bullet holes in the trucks? Why does he need to keep so many walkers around? Where does he go when he takes a few men and just disappears for hours at a time?”

“And why did he need to come here and shoot at us all?” Rick added. “I’d be more than happy to drop this. To never see him again. We take the prison and he keeps his town. But I’m not the one you have to worry about. It’s him. He’s never going to let this go.”

“If this is all true – ” Andrea started to say.

“It is,” said Rick.

“If this is true, what am I supposed to do?” Andrea said sadly.

“You come back here to be with your family,” Rick said. He looked around at the group. They were looking to him to deal with this situation, just as they put their trust in him to deal with everything else. He couldn’t let them down.

“But what about everyone else in Woodbury?” Andrea asked. “He’s putting together an army. Every able-bodied person, even teenagers, is expected to join in. He’s whipped them into a frenzy. He says **you’re** the crazy ones, that you’ve targeted the town and that you’ll come back because you want what they have. That they have to be prepared to strike first to save themselves. He said he came here to talk and you just shot at him.”

“That’s not what happened,” Rick said.

“I know that. But the people believe it. It doesn’t help that you have killed several of them already and that he and Shumpert came back injured. He can spin anything. He’s fooled them into thinking they’re defending themselves. I can’t just leave them all to him. They’re good people, too.”

“They’re not your problem,” Rick said.

“But they are,” Andrea said. “When Michonne and I first got there, I was days from dying. They accepted us and fed us and fixed me up. I can’t turn my back on them now.”

“You have to kill him,” Carol piped in from her spot in the corner, then walked toward Andrea and fixed her with an intense stare. “This won’t stop unless he’s dead.”

“I can’t,” Andrea said to Carol. “I can’t,” she repeated to Rick.

“One death could prevent so many more. And it’s not like he doesn’t deserve it,” Rick said. “Don’t **we** have a right to be here? To be safe?”

“There has to be a way to do this where nobody gets hurt,” Andrea insisted.

“I don’t think that’s possible,” Rick said.

“I want to stay, but he’ll just use that as fuel for an attack. Say that I’ve been captured.” She put her head in her hands, then looked back up. “I have to go back.”

“And do what?” Rick said. “You’re gonna have to choose a side.”

“I choose your side,” Andrea said. “And theirs. If I can get some of them to leave, would we be welcome here?”

Rick looked surprised by the question. “We need to talk about it,” he told her. “Ben, will you go get a car for Andrea?”

Ben nodded and left.

“Excuse us,” Rick said, and brought most of the group outside. Carol stayed inside to talk to Andrea.

“You know,” Carol said, “you can’t fix crazy. Believe me. I tried. I tried talking sense to Ed. All it does is get them angrier. He trusts you. Get close to him and finish this.”

“I’ve never killed someone before,” Andrea said. “Walkers, sure. But living people are different.”

“Just don’t think about him. Think about us and all of those other people you’re trying to save. He will use them to get to us and we’ll all be dead.”

“I don’t know,” Andrea said, shaking her head. “Rick is different now. Colder.”

“We’ve all had to become that way,” Carol said. “It’s the only way to survive any more. But there have to be lines we don’t cross. Your Governor – he’s crossed those lines.”

Rick and the group walked back in. “We talked about it,” he said. “We’ll allow anyone to join who doesn’t take up arms against us.”

Andrea looked relieved. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to convince anyone. But she had to try.

“I’ll be back in a couple of days,” she said. “I know we can work something out.”

“We’ll see,” Rick said, shaking her hand. They walked back outside to wait for Ben to bring the car around.

Andrea walked up to Michonne and gave her a hug. “I’m glad you found them,” she said. “I’m sorry I didn’t leave with you when we had the chance.”

“So am I,” Michonne said. She wasn’t sure if she meant it, though. If she and Andrea had left Woodbury together, they likely never would have found this group. And she is glad to have found a home here.

Ben arrived with a police car. He held open the door for her and shut it after her. Daryl handed her back her weapons through the open window.

“You sure you can spare it?” she asked Rick.

“We’ll be fine,” Rick said. “Just come back to us.”

“I will,” she said.

Rick wished he was half as confident as she sounded. He watched her drive down to the gate and pick up Milton, then drive off.

Tyreese and Hershel closed the gate and walked up to join the group.

“How did that go?” Hershel asked.

“About as well as can be expected. She listened. She wants to help. I just am not sure she can. What about with that guy – what’s his name?”

“Milton,” Hershel supplied. “He was actually very nice. Reasonable. He’s documenting everything that happens here. For history, he says. He was quite interested in my leg. I don’t think it ever occurred to him to cut off a limb if you can after you get bit.”

“He have anything useful to say about the Governor?”

“Only that he wasn’t always like this. Milton’s been with him a long time. Before his daughter turned, I guess he was a decent person.”

“It’s no excuse,” Rick said. He looked at Carl and wondered what kind of a person he would become if his own son were killed. He hoped it wouldn’t be someone like the Governor. But he realized how much he’s slipped recently even from losing Lori. If Carl were gone . . . it would probably not be pretty. He thought again how lucky he was to have created this new family to support him.

“Well, it’s out of our hands now,” Rick said. “We’ve done what we can. We’ll just have to wait and see if she comes back to us.

“She will,” Daryl said confidently. “She’s got to.”

“I hope so,” Rick said. “She belongs here with us.”

~~*~~

The next morning, everyone gathered for breakfast. Merle was missing, but that wasn’t unusual. He’d generally been keeping to himself during meal times. When Rick asked Daryl about it, he just said that Merle had told him he was going hunting and would be back before sunset.

Everyone worked hard for hours to prepare the prison. In anticipation of adding more people, Rick and some of the others fixed the fences near the D block and finished the job Axel and Oscar couldn’t of clearing out the bodies of the jail’s former occupants and burning them. Then Rick took some more people into the tombs to work on clearing them out and trying to figure out how to keep them from filling up with walkers. They found the breaches in the walls that were allowing the walkers to get in, but simply didn’t have the building materials to fix the problem. They’d have to make a run to find supplies if they wanted a more permanent solution. For now, they’d just have to continue clearing them out once in a while and make sure the walkers couldn’t make it upstairs.

At mid-afternoon, Rick went upstairs to check on Judith. Beth was caring for her again and doing a great job. Judith was a happy baby, for all the crap that was happening around her. He figured it helped that she didn’t know any different. It’s all in what you get used to.

Michael pulled Rick aside to show him what he’d been working on. He’d put together some energy bars made with peanut butter, dried fruit and rice and packaged them up in plastic wrap. Rick tried eating one. It was certainly not the best thing he had every eaten. But, it was better than squirrel jerky. 

“I appreciate the effort, Michael,” Rick said, still chewing the bite he’d taken a while ago.

Michael glowed under the compliment. “It’s the best I could do without access to the full kitchen,” he said. “I put these together, too.” He held up an oddly-shaped pillow case. It was a go kit, essentially, containing a blanket, some food and water, and a couple of other supplies. He’d made one for everyone.

“That way, if some of us have to head out in a hurry, we’ve got some things to get us started,” Michael said.

“Good idea. You should make up some extras and stick them in other places in case we get pinned down and can’t come back here.”

Michael smiled. “You bet,” he said enthusiastically. “Happy to help. Sorry I can’t help much with clearing out the walkers.”

“That’s okay,” Rick said. “Everyone offers something different to the group. I don’t think fightin’ is ever gonna be your thing. Just make sure you know enough to defend yourself.”

“Daryl and Merle are helping me with that. Plus, I took a self-defense class once. Some of my friends were getting harassed when they left a bar and got a little beat up. We all took a class so we would be prepared to fend them off if they tried again.”

“When was that?” Rick asked.

“Oh, it seems like forever ago. Five years, maybe? I’ve forgotten a lot since I never had to use it. Stomp the instep, knee them in the balls, go for the eyes. That’s pretty much what I’ve got.”

“That’ll work on people. If it’s a walker, just go straight for the brain. Kneein’ ‘em in the balls won’t even slow ‘em down.”

Michael laughed. “I figured that one out this winter.”

“Well, thanks again for this,” Rick said, gesturing with the hand still holding the bar. He smiled and made his way to the roof.

Daryl was sitting on top of the half wall, gaze focused out beyond the fence.

“See anything?” Rick asked.

“Nah. Pretty quiet.” Daryl looked over at Rick. 

“What the fuck are you eatin’?” Daryl asked, eyeing the bar with disgust.

“This thing Michael put together. It’s pretty gross, honestly,” Rick said, laughing. “But, it’s better than some of the shit we’ve had to eat in the last year. And a damn sight better than starvin’ to death.”

“Give it here,” Daryl said, rolling his fingers to his palm in a come here gesture.

“You asked for it,” Rick said playfully and handed the bar to Daryl.

Daryl took one bite and made a face. “That’s foul!”

“Worse than grubs?”

“Hell, no. But I only eat those when I’m desperate. I ain’t desperate enough for that yet,” Daryl said, handing back the bar.

“Well, we’ll probably be desperate enough some day. They’d be good for when we’re on runs.”

“I guess.” Daryl looked at Rick again. He was covered in multiple layers of dirt, sweat, and walker guts. “You’re a mess.”

“You’re one to talk. ‘Sides, ain’t much we can do about that right now.” The plumbing in the prison ran of city water and sewer, which had shut down months before. They could dig latrines for going to the bathroom, but cleaning up was next to impossible beyond wiping yourself down with bandana moistened from a water bottle. He wished it would rain, just so he could stand outside in it and feel clean for a while.

“Do you think the Governor’s gonna come back today?”

“No. Milton told Hershel that both he and that other guy’s wounds were not critical, but they’d be laid up for couple more days at least.”

“Okay. Then I got an idea. Follow me.” Daryl walked down to the first floor of the prison and Rick followed. Daryl gathered everyone that was nearby.

“We all need a break and we’re filthy and sweaty. We’re right next to a creek. We got enough of us now. Let’s work up a rotation. We can all go out together and a couple of us at a time can wash up in the creek while the others guard us from walkers.”

Rick thought it was a slightly dangerous plan, but would totally be worth the risk. They’d probably taken out most of the walkers in the woods already since any of them that had been nearby had been drawn to the prison by the noise of the Governor’s attack and killed by the group days earlier. Everyone made their way down. Hershel cautioned against drinking any of the water since it should be boiled first but said it should be fine for bathing.

An arc of four people on either side of the creek covered while the rest went in the water. They’d brought bars of soap down from the prison. They all lathered themselves up all over, clothes included, then gradually stripped down to their underwear to clean their skin, though Rick noticed that Daryl never removed his tank top either. 

Rick hadn’t felt this clean since the farm. People were smiling and splashing. It was a stark contrast to what they had been going through lately.

The groups on the shore and in the water rotated until everyone had had a turn. Beth and Daryl even held Judith while Rick soaped her up and rinsed her off with water from his cupped hands. She screwed up her face and Rick hurried to dry her off before the wailing could begin.

“Don’t think she liked her first bath much,” Daryl said.

“She might not’ve, but I sure did,” Rick said. “Thank you, Daryl.” Rick stared at him and the way the sun glistened on Rick’s newly clean hair, Daryl had a hard time thinking of anything to say in response. Out of the side of his eye, he saw Michael looking at them. When Daryl turned his head, Michael smiled and looked away.

“Weren’t nothin’,” Daryl said, blushing under Rick’s scrutiny. “Sun’s about to set. We should go in.”

Rick nodded and left the creek. Daryl stared at the way the water streamed in rivulets down his back, some of it filling the dimples over his butt, toned by hard work. Although Rick was wearing underwear, the fact that they were wet made them almost translucent. He could see practically everything. Daryl realized he was staring and rushed out of the creek, taking Judith from Beth so she could get dressed first and very pointedly looking in the other direction.

Everyone grumbled as they put on their wet clothes, but was still happy to have come. This brief respite from the turmoil over the Governor was just what they needed. They walked back to the prison lighter on their feet, ready to return to their work.

~~*~~

After dinner, Rick noticed Daryl pacing in the guard tower and went up to talk to him. Daryl tensed when he heard someone entering the tower, but relaxed when he saw who it was.

“What’s got you so worked up?” Rick asked.

“Merle,” Daryl said simply. “He should be back by now.”

“Merle knows how to take care of himself. I’m sure he’s fine.”

“I know,” Daryl said. “Just, he’s my only kin. Can’t help worryin’.”

Rick stepped closer. “He’s not your only kin anymore. We may not be blood, but we **are** a family.”

Daryl looked into Rick’s eyes, but couldn’t maintain the contact for long. In many ways, Rick was more of a brother to him than Merle had ever been. But, it was different. Better somehow. He and Merle had a long, shared history. For years, they were all each other had. And he recognized now how unhealthy that had been – for him at least. Merle was right when he said that them splitting up was the best thing that ever happened to Daryl. Daryl had become a much better person away from Merle. And Merle had become so much worse. Still, he couldn’t just abandon his brother. Having good people like Rick and Carol and Glenn and Hershel looking up to him, relying on him – that’s what made Daryl better. Maybe it would work for Merle, too. If he would let it. If he made himself important to this group, he could shed the darkest parts of himself.

Daryl watched the woods closely for any sign of his brother returning.

“I’ll just stay up here with you for a while,” Rick said. There was no judgment in his tone. He was just saying that he was there for Daryl. And having him there did make Daryl feel calmer.

Daryl nodded and they continued their silent vigil well into the night.

~~*~~

Merle crept into the storefront that the Woodbury folks used as their hospital. He’d left early that morning, telling Daryl he was going hunting. Well, it was true. He was hunting. Just not for food.

Rick would never have the spine to do what needed to be done. He would play the waiting game until it was too late and everyone at the prison was dead. Merle was damned if he’d let that fate befall him. He was taking matters into his own hands. Or rather, hand. He was going to be the one to save them all.

He had walked through the woods all day to get to Woodbury, then waited outside the walls for nightfall. They **had** stepped up security. But he still knew the weak spots. There were at least a dozen ways to get in. He’d waited until he saw an opportunity and made for a part of the fence in the back he could easily climb over. Walkers were too stupid to do it, but the Governor had never thought much about human intruders.

It always gave him the heebie jeebies, walking through town at night. After curfew, the place looked like a ghost town. He kept his eyes open for the spots he knew were well guarded and snuck around them. By the time he made it to the hospital, he was sure his plan would work. He was going to take out the Governor and be free of him, once and for all. Then he could go back to the prison and be hailed a hero. His brother would show him the same respect he showed Rick.

Soon, he was standing over the Governor’s bed while the man slept. Merle watched him for a bit, steeling himself for what he knew he had to do. This man had saved him from certain death. But, he’d turned him into something inhuman. The Governor had made him into a vicious guard dog, and now that dog was going to turn on its master.

The lights turned on and the Governor opened his eyes and started laughing. He sat up and looked toward the door, where Martinez stood with a gun trained on Merle.

“See?” the Governor said to Martinez. “Didn’t I tell you?”

Martinez smiled. “Sure did,” he said.

“You are nothing if not very predictable,” the Governor said to Merle. “I knew you would come, especially after Andrea came back from the prison and started trying to convince everyone to join her.” Merle looked a bit surprised, but also sickened. He knew what the Governor did with traitors. If he hadn’t already killed her, he soon would. Slowly. “You think I wouldn’t hear about that? You know I have ears everywhere. Nothing happens in this town without me knowing about it. I **let** you in. I **wanted** you here. So I could tell you this to your face.” The smile that the Governor had been sporting fell away, revealing the hatred beneath it. He pulled a gun from under the sheet and cocked it. “You’re going to die. Your friends are going to die. Your brother is going to die. And there is not a damn thing you can do about it.”

Merle knew he only had one play left. This man had turned him into a monster. He had never been a good man, but there were things he didn’t do. He didn’t kill. He didn’t torture. But, a year with this man and everything had changed. He’d killed 16 people. He’d been complicit in the death of far more. He felt the weight of those lives, pulling him down to the eternal hell he knew he’d see soon. He would never get to see his brother again. But he could do one last thing and hope that it saved Daryl’s life.

Merle moved quickly toward the Governor. Both the Governor and Martinez shot at Merle, but he had just enough momentum and determination to run his knife hand straight through the Governor’s head. 

Merle looked over at where Martinez stood, stunned. Merle coughed up a mouthful of blood. “Worth it,” he choked out, and collapsed on top of the only man on earth he had ever hated more than his father.

~~*~~

Daryl nudged Rick’s shoulder. Rick had fallen asleep in the guard tower hours ago, but Daryl had kept up his watch. The same truck from the attack was heading back down the dirt road toward the prison.

Rick jumped into go mode and ran down the stairs into the building. He called everyone to attention and told them it was time. They knew the plan.

Carl, Judith, Beth and Hershel headed into the tombs. They had cleared out a couple of rooms down there where, hopefully, they’d be safe until the immediate danger passed. Everyone else grabbed their weapons and went to their assigned stations – some high in the towers or on the roof, some down on the ground level in the holes.

Rick and Daryl took their place on the catwalk, ready to take out anyone who tried to enter the cell block.

The truck reached the gate and stopped. The Hispanic man from the last attack stepped out and dragged Andrea out of the truck. She was bound and gagged and had obviously been roughed up. He forced her to her knees and pointed his gun at her head.

“Rick Grimes,” the man shouted. “I’m alone. I want to talk. Come out.”

Rick looked at Daryl, the question clear on his face.

“It could be a trap,” Daryl said.

Rick nodded. “It could also be the truth,” he said to Daryl. Then he yelled into his cupped hands toward the gate. “Let Andrea go. Then we can talk.”

“If I let her go, you’ll just shoot me,” the man called back.

“If you don’t let her go, we’ll definitely shoot you,” Rick shouted.

“Okay. I’m doing it,” the man yelled. He took a knife from his belt and cut the ties on Andrea’s hands. She bounced up and removed her gag.

“It’s okay,” she yelled toward Rick. “You should come down.”

“You ain’t goin’ down there alone,” Daryl said.

“I know that,” Rick said and motioned for Daryl to join him.

They walked down to the gates together, keeping their guns up and eyes open for any motion outside the fences. When they got to the gate, Rick unlocked the padlock and removed the chain to open it. He slid it just wide enough for Andrea to slip inside, then locked it back up.

“Are you okay?” he asked, running a concerned eye over her injuries. 

She nodded. “This is Caesar Martinez. The Governor is dead. He’s in charge now.”

“How?” Rick asked in surprise.

“Merle,” Andrea answered, and Daryl suddenly knew the ugly truth.

“Where is he,” Daryl demanded. Andrea shook her head and Daryl bent over, clutching his knees. His brother was dead. But Rick needed him right now. He had to put his feelings aside and deal with them later. Daryl primed his gun and aimed at Martinez. “Give me one reason not to shoot you dead!”

“Because I’m your only chance to stop this war before it can’t be stopped,” Martinez said, his hands holding a gun now trained on Daryl. “We’re better armed. We’ve got more people. We could take you any day of the week. But I don’t want to risk any more of my people’s lives. I have a proposal.”

“Let’s hear it, then,” Rick said.

“We take east of the river. You take west. We never cross into each other’s territory. We leave each other alone.”

Rick smiled grimly. That was exactly the same truce he had planned to offer to the Governor if the opportunity ever arose. 

“And if you break it?” Rick asked.

“We won’t. But anyone from my side comes here, they’re fair game. Same for you. I don’t want to see anyone from your group anywhere near Woodbury again,” Martinez said.

“Deal,” Rick said.

Martinez walked toward his truck, but rather than getting in, he stepped toward the back. Daryl continued following him with his gun. Martinez dragged something out of the bed wrapped in burlap and let it fall to the ground. “I let you have Andrea as a show of good faith. Let’s let this be the last death.” He removed the burlap and revealed Merle’s body, several bullet holes visible in his chest.

With that, Martinez got back in his truck and drove off. Rick quickly opened the gate and Daryl ran out, kneeling down to his brother’s body.

“Why, man? You stupid asshole!” he said to his brother’s corpse, starting to cry. “You didn’t have to do this!”

Rick didn’t know what to do. He wanted to offer Daryl comfort, but he wasn’t sure how. He turned to Andrea. “Go get Carol. She’s on the roof.” Andrea nodded and jogged off.

Rick kneeled down next to Daryl. “He did it for us. For you. He saved us all.”

Daryl was rocking back and forth, sobbing now. “Fuck. He didn’t have to save me. I just got him back. I just wanted my brother back.”

“I know,” Rick said, putting a hand on Daryl’s back. “I’m sorry.”

Daryl turned and grabbed Rick in a fierce hug. It was so tight that it actually hurt a little, but Rick sure wasn’t going to say anything to Daryl about it. He hugged back just as tightly. He murmured a string of things in Daryl’s ears. He wasn’t even sure what he was saying. It was going to be okay. Rick was there for him. Whatever he needed. Anything.

Carol arrived and went down onto her knees, too. She hugged Daryl from the back side, wrapping her arms around Rick and squeezing Daryl between them like the filling of a sandwich.

After a time, Daryl’s sobs subsided and he started fussing, so they both let him go. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hands. “I suppose you both think I’m a huge baby, now,” he said thinking, ironically, of how Merle would react to Daryl crying.

“We think you’re human,” Rick said. “It’s nothing more than how I reacted when Lori . . .” He still couldn’t finish that sentence. “What do you want to do? Do you want us to bury him right away?”

“We should probably get him inside at least,” said Carol, motioning with her head to where a couple of walkers were making their way out of the woods.

The three of them popped up to their feet. Rick handed Daryl his keys, then he and Carol ran toward the walkers and stabbed them in the head while Daryl dragged Merle inside the gate.

“I’m gonna get a shovel,” Daryl said once the three of them were back inside and the gate was shut.

“You don’t have to,” Rick called to his back. “Someone else can do it.”

“No,” Daryl said determinedly. “It has to be me.”

Rick had to remind himself that everyone grieved differently. If Daryl wanted to be the one to dig his brother’s grave, Rick wouldn’t stop him. “Will you stay and help?” he asked Carol. He knew she wouldn’t be a ton of help with digging, but she could be there for moral support. 

Carol nodded and walked toward the shade of their small graveyard. She looked at Axel’s freshly-dug grave, then stared at the cross of her own mistaken grave. That could easily have been true. If not for T-Dog and Daryl, she could be inside there right now. She shivered.

Rick walked toward the prison. He needed to find Andrea. She was in the common area, wrapped in a hug from Maggie on one side and Hershel on the other.

“We’re glad you’re home,” Maggie said.

“I am, too,” said Andrea.

“What happened back in Woodbury?” asked Hershel.

Andrea shook her head sadly. “Nobody would listen. I thought for sure a few of them would see how unstable Philip was. But he had them convinced. He’d protected the town for so long. And I think, deep down, the people knew the kinds of things he’d been doing. They ignored it so they could keep living in the safety of their bubble and pretending walkers didn’t exist.”

“And Merle?” Rick asked.

“I’m not sure. From what I could gather, they expected him to come and planned something pretty nasty for him. Philip had this torture room,” Andrea said, then shivered. “Anyway, Merle got in and was somehow able to kill Philip before he died. I think it was a big surprise to everyone.”

“Will this truce hold?” Hershel asked.

“I don’t know,” Andrea said. “Martinez is certainly more reasonable than Philip was. I think he was sincere when he said he just wanted this over. Philip planned to kill me, but once he was dead, Martinez brought me here instead. He knew killing me would just incite you.”

“We have to believe in it,” Rick said, “and work toward making it happen. We won’t be the ones to cross the border.”

“I know your word is good, Rick,” Hershel said. “I’m just not so sure about his.”

“I think this is the best we’re gonna get. We’ll have to keep our eyes open, but if we don’t start moving forward, we’re gonna die here. We need to start turning this place into a home. We can’t do that if we’re forever looking over our shoulders, waiting for disaster to strike.”

They took the next hour to start planning for that future. If they wanted to plant a garden, they needed supplies. They had to close up the holes that were allowing walkers into the tombs. They had to plan out how to feed all these people. And they had to start making the prison feel less like a prison and more like someplace they wanted to live.

Glenn found a phone book and he and Maggie and Sasha started planning which stores they would hit. They’d have more luck finding what they needed at big stores like Home Depot, but those were further away and far more likely to have a lot of walkers hiding out in them. They’d start with smaller hardware stores and save the big places for when they got desperate. They could also start raiding nearby farms, even ones they’d already been through in the winter. They know they would have taken any food, weapons or medical supplies their first time through, but the farms might have gardening or construction materials that the group overlooked at first because it wasn’t useful at the time.

When Daryl came in with Carol trailing behind, he was covered in dust and dirt. Everyone offered their condolences, but he was only able to stay in the room for a minute before it got to be too much and he went up to the roof. He looked at the mattress that Merle had been sleeping on and he felt all his sadness leave him, replaced by anger.

“What the hell!” he screamed, kicking the mattress. “Stupid, mother fucking asshole!” He punctuated each word with another kick to the mattress. “Never thinkin’. Just doin’. Always leavin’.” He got down on top of the mattress and started to pummel it with his fists. After a few minutes, he collapsed back on his own mattress, breathing heavily.

Rick poked his head in through the door. “Did it help?” he asked.

“No,” Daryl answered glumly.

“Should I go?” Rick asked. Everything in him was reaching out to Daryl, but if Daryl would rather be alone, he would cede to his wishes.

Daryl looked up at Rick. “No,” he said again, simply.

As much as Rick wanted to help, had no idea what he was doing. When he had needed to comfort people who had lost a loved one as part of his job as a sheriff, he tried to remain as dispassionate as possible. That wasn’t possible here. He knew Daryl. They were . . . something. Friends didn’t really describe it because it was so much more than that. He’d never had a relationship like this before in his life. It was kind of like the partnership he’d had with Shane, but somehow even more. He and Shane had been great friends, back then, but at the end of the day, they went home. He relied on Shane to cover his back when it was needed, and vice versa. But they weren’t on call 24 hours a day. They weren’t making life and death decisions every day. They didn’t eat every meal (or sometimes go hungry) together. They didn’t sleep feet away from one another.

Rick figured his relationship with Daryl was closer to what he’d had with Lori than with Shane. When Lori’s dad had passed years ago, his job was clear. He wished it was as clear now. 

“Scooch over, then,” Rick said. Daryl moved on to his side and moved over on his mattress. Rick lay down behind him, sure to leave plenty of space between their bodies. 

They lay that way, not talking, for several minutes. Then Daryl reached back to grab Rick’s arm and wrap it around his chest.

They fell asleep that way and when Rick woke up at sunrise, they were still cuddled together in the same position. Rick thought it was a bit odd. Lori had always loved cuddling and wanted to be the little spoon. Rick liked it for a little while, but he couldn’t tolerate for the entire night and would always move away while he was sleeping.

Rick tried to get up without disturbing Daryl. He needed his sleep, Rick thought. He made his way down the stairs.

When Daryl heard him leave, he opened his eyes. He had been awake for over an hour, but hadn’t wanted to break the spell. He had never felt so supported, so loved, before. And he finally realized what the dreams about Rick meant. Why he felt compelled to stare at him. Why he cared so much what Rick thought. “Well, shit,” he said. Because if he was in love with Rick, nothing good could possibly come from it. Rick would never feel the same. Daryl had spent half his life trailing after his brother, seeking approval that would never come. And now he was destined to do the same with Rick.

Daryl got up and went down to the common area for breakfast. He was hesitant to make eye contact with anyone, sure they’d be able to tell what he’d just figured out. But no one said anything. Rick smiled at him, but looked away quickly. He never brought up what had happened. So neither did Daryl. They just pretended nothing had happened and went on with their lives.

~~*~~

Weeks passed and everyone started feeling much more secure in the treaty. The gardens were planted. The holes were patched. The sheets were hung. Rick had even started raising chickens. Everyone enjoyed the fresh eggs and, occasionally, they got a chicken dinner.

Every once in a while, a group on a run would find another living person. They were careful about it, but they’d decided that letting people into their group was one of the things that kept them human. They couldn’t turn good people away and let them die. They weren’t naïve. They knew there were plenty of bad people out there, too. People like Tony and Dave. People who allowed the lawlessness of the times to turn them into animals. But they couldn’t allow themselves to become like the Governor and kill first, just to be on the safe side. They worked up questions to ask, things to look for, to make sure the people they brought in wouldn’t try to ruin everything they’d built. They tried to make sure that everyone who joined them could contribute, but they wouldn’t turn away people just because they didn’t appear to have an immediate value.

Soon, the prison was full of more than a dozen new people. Rick was glad that they had cleared out the D block in anticipation of the Woodbury folks joining them. It was sure coming in handy now. People started really trying to make the prison more homey. Decorations popped up everywhere. Flowers were planted. Glenn and Daryl kept a list of furniture items people requested and did their best to find everyone something. They built several outbuildings, including an outdoor kitchen and a water station that could boil and serve up a couple gallons of water every hour it was running. They even came up with a way to use barrels of water and hand pumps to make the showers work.

As more people came and the prison became more and more like a small town, Rick started to relinquish some of his control. He had taken charge when the group was smaller. When they were constantly fighting for their lives. But that style of leadership was not the best for this situation. He only had to think about the way the Governor had ruled over Woodbury – and what that had turned him into – to reaffirm that he was doing the right thing. They had lots of reasonable, ambitious people now who were willing to step up. They could be more of a democracy.

So he stepped back, and other leaders emerged. Some he expected, like Hershel and Andrea. But some he was surprised by. He was pleased to find Daryl taking on more responsibility, not just for hunting, but for long-term planning. 

One day, Milton showed up outside their gates. He begged to be allowed in. Apparently, Martinez didn’t value him as an advisor as much as the Governor had. He was expected to pull guard duty or kitchen duty like the rest of the townsfolk. As a result, he no longer got special privileges in return for spending time on the scientific experiments he really enjoyed. Rick figured that was the part that really irritated him.

Andrea lobbied hard for Milton to be allowed to join them and won many people to her side. Most of them hadn’t been there when the Governor had shot up the prison, so they didn’t appreciate the possible danger. But even Rick thought it was unlikely that Milton was coming just to embed himself as a spy. It was more likely he was looking for a place where he felt he could use his brains, rather than the meager brawn he had.

Milton joined and began to show his value immediately. They’d started having a problem with walkers pushing on the fences. They had shored them up with small tree trunks, but the fence seemed to always be nearing collapse in several places. A few people had to spend several hours every day at the fence, spearing walkers through the holes with knives or fireplace pokers or crowbars. Milton convinced them to dig trenches a few feet away from the fence so the walkers couldn’t get close without falling in. They still had to go out every couple of days and kill the walkers in the trenches, but it was better than forever worrying that the fences were about to topple over.

When Rick had wanted to bring in pigs, Milton convinced him that rabbits would be much better. They bred faster and required less food. It wouldn’t do for them to be the group’s only protein source, since they were so lean. But they had the fat from eggs and the occasional chicken, as well. Daryl and Michael captured a couple dozen and, within two months, they had established a rotating stock of well over a hundred animals. Milton also helped with plans to use the creek for irrigating the crops. 

Milton and Daryl got the generators running again, but this time with a combination of solar panels and wind power. He remembered the location of the warehouse where they’d gotten the solar panels for Woodbury and there were dozens still there. It had been a challenge to get them installed on the roof, but when they were able to start using electricity again, it was totally worth it. They mostly used it to run the water station and charge batteries so they could use lights at night, but they also hooked up some fans to keep air circulating in the buildings.

It made a world of difference. People started sleeping better and everyone was much happier. And it would be a godsend in the winter, to be able to have some heat at night.

~~*~~

Everyone was preparing for winter now. The harvest from their small farm had started to come in and was bountiful. They started drying or canning as much as they could to save for the lean months. Likewise, they tried to save some food for the chickens and rabbits.

Daryl had remained sleeping on the roof throughout the summer and fall. But he supposed it was time to come inside. He was tearing down the pavilion and moving the mattresses when he found the GT magazine Merle had given him, what seemed like forever ago now. He’d been so embarrassed at the time that he’d just stuffed it under his mattress and, with everything happening with the Governor, he’d completely forgotten about it. 

He’d thought it was a joke at the time, but looking back, maybe Merle had been trying to tell him something. Daryl’s attitudes about race and gender and pretty much everything had changed a lot in the past two years. When there are so few humans, you start thinking a lot less of how they should be divided and more about how they can be united. Being a man’s man had meant a lot to Merle when they were growing up. But maybe he had changed his mind, too. Maybe he had already known something about Daryl that he hadn’t been willing to admit to himself and, rather than trying to change him, he was telling him he accepted him.

He looked over at the closed door to the downstairs. No one ever bothered him up here anymore. He mostly just slept up here, anyway. The roof wasn’t needed for guard duty any more as they stuck to the towers. And Daryl spent most of his waking hours out hunting, on runs, or downstairs helping with some project.

He sat back down on his mattress and started paging through the magazine. In the months since Merle’s death, he had fully admitted to himself that he was in love with Rick. He hadn’t said anything, though. He knew Rick didn’t feel the same, so it would just cause trouble.

He didn’t know if his feelings for Rick meant he was gay, though, or just a Rick-sexual. He’d never really allowed himself to look at men before. He knew his brother’s opinions about it and, since his brother was the only person who gave a damn about him most of the time, it only made sense not to try to piss him off. Besides, it wasn’t like he **didn’t** like women. He did. Sometimes. Sort of. Mostly when he was drunk. But women could turn his eye on occasion. If one threw herself at him, he would take her up on it and he usually enjoyed it. He just didn’t seek it out.

He paged through the magazine more slowly, looking carefully at the builds of the men in the pictures. He liked their muscular chests. He liked their broad shoulders. He loved their rippling backs. It reminded him of the time he’d watched Rick get out of the creek after they’d all taken baths in it. There weren’t any full on pictures of dicks, but the models sometimes wore tight boyshorts with distinct bulges that left very little to the imagination.

Daryl was surprised to find himself getting hard. That had never happened when he’d looked through magazines full of naked women. Of course, those magazines had featured the kind of women he never liked, full of fake parts and missing all their body hair. He’d rather have a more natural woman. Or, he guessed, it was time to admit that he’d rather have a man.

He found a picture he particularly enjoyed and started massaging himself through his pants. Finally, he gave in and just stuck his hand inside. He grabbed his heavy cock and started rubbing his hands up and down, paying special attention to the head. He tried to keep looking at the picture, but his eyes kept falling closed. And the pictures in his mind’s eye weren’t from that magazine. They were all of Rick. Rick getting out of the creek. Rick hoeing his garden with his shirt off, sweat dripping down his back. Rick lifting a full barrel at the water station. Rick laughing at someone’s joke. Rick looking right at Daryl and smiling.

Daryl came all over his hand and the inside of his underwear. Terrific. Now he either had to wash those himself or listen to Carol’s teasing. He should have just pulled them down. Next time, he thought. Then he stopped himself in surprise. Next time? There was going to be a next time? Merle had been right when he said that Daryl didn’t jerk off very often. In fact, he hadn’t done it in over a year, since before the virus hit.

When he had masturbated in the past, his thoughts tended to stray from whatever he was trying to think about. He’d start off thinking about the last woman to have drunkenly thrown herself at him and end up thinking about the bartender. Thinking back, he was shocked that he was able to fool himself into thinking he was straight for so long. But he felt like if he jerked off thinking about men, Merle would know somehow. So, he mostly just turned off the impulse.

Any time he **had** done it, it had been sort of perfunctory, and not all that enjoyable. He mostly did it when his morning wood just refused to go down and he really needed to pee. When he pretty much stopped having morning wood because their life had become so terrifying, he didn’t really miss it. It wasn’t like he’d ever really enjoyed jerking off anyway.

This was like a whole new world to him. This freedom to think about whatever he wanted led to much greater satisfaction. There was a part of him that felt guilty for thinking about Rick but, fuck it, he didn’t care. It was like he suddenly discovered what everyone had been talking about back when they were 13. He had finally realized that jerking off could actually feel amazing.

After that, there was no stopping him. He moved into his own cell inside, so he knew he had to be quiet. But he found time for himself at least once a day. Usually more.

~~*~~

Daryl may have thought he was being subtle, but he was definitely attracting attention.

“So, what do you think that’s all about?” Rick asked Carol one morning when Daryl strutted out of his cell happily and practically bounced down the stairs, greeting everyone he met with a smile. “Is he hooking up with someone?” He wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer. 

“Sure,” Carol said with a sarcastic grin. “If ‘someone’ is his right hand.”

Something Rick was eating went down the wrong pipe and he started coughing violently. Carol pounded him on the back. “All right?” she asked.

He nodded and took a big sip of water. “So he’s not seeing anyone?”

Carol gave him a disbelieving look. “Rick, you spend half your time staring at him. Have you seen him with anyone?”

“I don’t spend half my time – ,” Rick started, then interrupted himself. “I mean, sure, I watch him. I watch everyone. I want to make sure we’re all doing okay.”

Carol just raised an eyebrow.

“He’s family. I’m allowed to look,” Rick said dismissively, looking away from Carol’s knowing glance. What does she know? He cared about everyone that lived here. But the ones that had stayed with him through last winter were the ones he cared about the most. The ones he would call family. He stood and cleared his plate. “I’m going out to finish the harvest.”

“Sounds good,” Carol said, trying to suppress her smile. It was clear to her that Rick had feelings for Daryl. And Daryl had had feelings for Rick for even longer. She wondered if they would ever get their heads out of their asses.

As more people had started to arrive, more people had started to pair off. Beth was seeing this boy that had joined them a few months before, Zack. Sasha was with Bob. Rick and Daryl wouldn’t even be the first gay couple. Michael and Milton had really hit it off and had started a relationship. They weren’t obnoxious about it, but it was obvious they were together. At first, Carol had waited for people to start treating them differently or start talking about them behind their backs. But it never happened. People seemed to not care at all. Carol couldn’t figure it out. She knew rural Georgia was just not this liberal. Some of the people came from bigger cities, but a lot of these folks had lived in small towns near here. There is no way all these people were in favor of gay rights in the old world. The only thing she could figure was that people’s priorities had changed so much that they were willing to overlook something like that because there were just so few people. And they say that the more you’re exposed to something, the more normal it starts to seem to you. So, if they were repulsed at first but held their tongues, they’d just get used to it with time.

In any event, Daryl and Rick wouldn’t have to worry about being accepted. But getting them together would have more hurdles than fears of not being accepted. They didn’t spend as much time together as they used to. Their jobs kept them separate and there hadn’t been a crisis in a while to bring them together. Once people were forced inside more when winter truly began in earnest, Carol thought even more would couple up. Maybe that would be the time.

~~*~~

Rick had not immediately taken to the idea of being the lead farmer when Hershel had brought it up. Hershel wasn’t strong enough to do the job himself and had a strong desire to pass on his knowledge to someone. Rick was all for fresh food and not having to make as many runs, but he hadn’t done anything much outside beyond mowing the lawn and raking leaves. No one else seemed all that interested, though. And there was a part of Rick that did want to stay put, watching the prison grow into the home he’d foreseen when he and Daryl had first spied the buildings from the woods. Plus, he could be there more for Carl and Judith. 

Once he got into the routine, he found he really liked it. The work was hard and tiring. But he went to sleep at night feeling he’d accomplished something and eager for the next day. Watching the plants start to grow made him feel really good. He’d done that. He’d taken dirt and seeds and turned them into something new. Now that they were bringing in the last of the harvest, he was happy knowing that the fruit of his labor would help feed everyone all winter.

The work of hoeing and weeding and planting took a lot of time, but not necessarily a lot of brain power. If they had batteries for his Walkman, he would listen to music. But if not, he would just let his mind wander. Sometimes he would think about his old life, about what he’d be doing right then if things were different. Sitting in a car with Shane. Filling out paperwork. Finally getting home so he could get into another fight with Lori. He missed the safety and predictability of his old life, but there were definitely some aspects he preferred about his life now.

Thinking about the past could be depressing. He generally tried to focus more on his plans for the future. What they needed to do to make it through winter. What they would build next year. What his family needed to continue thriving.

Everyone seemed to be doing well. Carl finally had a couple people his own age around and could start trying to be a kid again. It had been a rough transition for him after Rick had been forced to start making him an adult too soon, but he seemed to be settling in. Beth had Zack and had started teaching the younger children to read. Glenn and Maggie were hinting they were ready to have a child of their own.

The growth was the most drastic in Carol and Daryl. They were both almost unrecognizable from the people he’d met in the woods outside Atlanta. Carol had emerged from her husband’s shadow as a strong, independent woman. She had the courage to speak out about what she thought needed to be done, and to help do it.

The change in Daryl was even greater. He’d lost the surly attitude and truly joined the group a long time ago. But every day he seemed to grow in confidence. The more he contributed, the more people looked up to him, which made him want to give even more. He was their best connection with the outside world. Aside from hunting, he helped organize most of the runs and went on almost all of them. He also seemed to have an uncanny ability to find new people to bring in.

Rick was a little jealous that so many people sought Daryl out now. It was selfish, he knew, and a bit irrational, but he just couldn’t help it. He used to be Daryl’s main confidant, but he wasn’t sure that was true anymore. Daryl had a lot of friends. Rick thought back to his conversation that morning with Carol. Rick wasn’t sure why he’d been so unsettled by the thought of Daryl having a girlfriend. Daryl had every right to find someone. Of course, he wanted Daryl to be happy. But he also wanted Daryl to be available to him. He felt better when Daryl was close. If he got a girlfriend, Rick wouldn’t get to see him as much.

Rick’s favorite nights are the ones where Daryl was home and he and Rick could hang out in the library, playing cards and joking around. Responsibilities often pulled one or both of them away, but if Rick could, he would spend every night with Daryl. He wished there were more hours in the day, just so he could be sure to have some of them to be near Daryl. Just thinking about Daryl made him smile.

And suddenly, it hit him. The only person he had ever felt like that about before was Lori. He’d had the hugest crush on her in 11th grade and had designed his entire day around trying to run into her in the hallway at school. Rick realized he’d been doing the same thing for months now subconsciously. Timing his visits to the water station to times he thought Daryl would be there. Saving a seat for him at dinner. Hanging around near the gate when he was due back from a run.

He totally had feelings for Daryl. Romantic feelings. He’d never felt this way about another man before. Maybe he was bi, but that didn’t seem to fit. Really, he’d never felt this way about anyone except Lori before. He guessed he could spend weeks tormenting himself over it and try to label it, but what would be the point? He liked who he liked. And he liked Daryl.

But did Daryl feel the same? He decided to ask the one person he thought would be sure to know: Carol.

~~*~~

It was weeks later before Rick finally had the courage to do something about his feelings. Carol had said she suspected Daryl felt the same, but he’d never told her so outright. Rick was hesitant to say anything and damage the close friendship they already had, but eventually, he couldn’t help himself. If Daryl chose someone else before Rick was able to talk to him, Rick would never be able to forgive himself.

Rick walked past Daryl’s cell a couple of times, then stopped in front. “Knock, knock,” he said, pushing on the curtain. It was the way they’d all agreed they could ask for entry into people’s private space when no one had a door.

“Come in,” Daryl said.

Rick pulled aside the curtain and ducked in. Daryl was lying on his bed, reading. Rick hadn’t been in here yet since Daryl had moved in. He liked what Daryl had done with it. He’d found an old hunting and fishing magazine in the library and put up pictures all over. He’d also fashioned his own nightstand out of found wood.

“Wow,” Rick said. “It looks great in here. Think you’ll want to stay when it gets warmer?”

Daryl shrugged. “I’d still rather be outside. But, this is okay. Better than those storage units. You remember that? Oh my God.”

Rick smiled with the fondness one could only have for horrific experiences after enough time had passed. How could he forget? He’d spent weeks crammed in that box that smelled of urine and sweat with nine other people, including his increasingly pregnant wife who seemed to like nothing better than asking him when they were going to get out of there.

Rick took a deep breath through his nose. He loved the smell of the cell. He couldn’t put his finger on what it smelled like, exactly. It just smelled like Daryl in a way the roof never had. Everything dissipated into the air up there. But in here, whatever it was – Daryl’s essential smell – was concentrated. 

“What can I do for you?” Daryl asked, looking at Rick quizzically.

Rick blushed a bit and looked away, then forced himself to look back. “I seem to have wrenched my shoulder moving the water station inside,” Rick said. 

There had been a horrible ice storm the previous week that had frozen the equipment up and made it unusable. Although it was a bit of a fire hazard, the council had decided it would be better to move everything inside, just to be safe. If the equipment was ruined, they be back to boiling a pot at a time on the stove and that would be much worse.

Rick rotated his shoulder in its socket. “Carol said you gave excellent massages, so I just figured. . .” Rick said, then trailed off.

“Sure,” Daryl said, surprised, sitting up. “Come here.” He motioned Rick to come sit on the bed in front of him.

When Daryl started pressing, Rick groaned. Daryl raised his hands off Rick’s shoulder. “I’m not hurting you, am I?”

“No,” Rick said. “It felt good.”

Daryl brought his hands back down and started massaging again. This time, when Rick groaned, he didn’t stop. He just pressed harder. After he felt like he’d thoroughly massaged the shoulder in question, he moved to the other one. Then Rick’s neck. Then down to his lower back. He had no idea how long they’d been doing this, but it had to have been at least fifteen minutes. Daryl didn’t ever want to stop touching Rick. And if the way Rick was moaning was any indication, he was pretty into it, too.

“Take your shirt off,” Daryl said, deciding to see how far Rick would let him push this. He was surprised to hear his own voice. It had entered some weird, low register he never used unless he was sick.

Rick didn’t say anything, but he unbuttoned his shirt and let it slide from his shoulders. Daryl started the whole routine over again, beginning with the sore shoulder and ending with the small of Rick’s back.

Then Daryl slid his hands around Rick and raised them to his pectorals. He was shocked to find himself continuing to push this envelope. But Rick had come to him. Rick had asked for him. Rick wasn’t leaving. Daryl felt emboldened. He squeezed Rick’s pecs.

“Oh God,” Rick moaned, and dropped his head back onto Daryl’s shoulder. Daryl was through censoring himself. If Rick wanted him to stop, he was going to have to say so. Daryl brought his mouth down to Rick’s neck and kissed it, over and over.

Daryl started sliding his palms lower and lower.

“Daryl,” Rick croaked out.

Daryl hesitated. Was this when Rick was going to tell him to stop? Was this when Rick was going to jump up and run out and never look at him again?

“Please,” was all that Rick said.

“Please what,” Daryl whispered in his ear.

“Please,” Rick said again, shoving his body backwards into Daryl. So Daryl continued his path to the top of Rick’s pants. He unbuttoned them and slid his hand inside.

He’d never done this to someone else before. But he’d had plenty of practice on himself in the past month. He thought about what he liked and hit the highlights. He switched between stroking the entire length and just focusing on the vein on the underside or on the tip, changing the rhythm unexpectedly. He mouthed at Rick’s neck throughout. When it seemed like Rick was about to come, he stopped stroking altogether.

“Daryl,” Rick groaned.

“I need you to look at me,” Daryl said. He wasn’t going to let Rick use him for this without getting something in return. He wanted to see Rick’s eyes when he came. He wanted to have that memory for himself. Even if this never happened again, he wanted know he had this filed away and could bring it up in his mind whenever he wanted.

Rick opened his eyes and turned his body sideways so Daryl could see him. Then he fixed his eyes on Daryl. Daryl knew that stare. Rick had been giving him that look for ages. But it took on a new meaning now. How long had Rick been looking at him like that? 

Daryl went back to his task and brought Rick toward completion while their eyes drilled holes into one another. Just before he came, Rick closed his eyes and threw his head back in pleasure.

After a couple of moments, Rick looked back up, a bit sheepishly. “Sorry,” he said. “I couldn’t – ”

Daryl interrupted him by diving in to kiss him on the lips. Rick was still in the middle of his sentence, so it took him a couple of moments, but he got with the program. When Daryl licked across his lips, Rick immediately opened to him.

Daryl started to reach toward his own erection, his hand still covered in Rick’s come. 

Rick broke off the kiss. “Don’t you dare,” he said, batting Daryl’s hand away. “That’s mine.” 

Rick scrambled down the bed between Daryl’s knees, opening his pants and yanking them halfway down his legs. He quickly took Daryl’s cock in his mouth, like this was a race and someone would beat him to it if he didn’t hurry.

Daryl sucked in a breath. 

“I’m sorry if I’m terrible at this,” Rick said, popping off. “First time. But I’ve been picturing it for a while.”

“No,” Daryl said. “You’re good. Keep goin’.” He gently pushed Rick’s head back down. How long was a while, he wondered. 

Rick clearly wasn’t very skilled. But he was very enthusiastic. And he was Rick, so Daryl was ready to come after about 30 seconds.

“Rick,” Daryl said, trying to pull him up by his hair.

“Un-uhn,” Rick hummed in disagreement, mouth not leaving Daryl.

“Fuckin’ Christ, you’re hot,” Daryl said, more to himself than Rick. Then he shot like a rocket.

Rick sat up, sputtering and come dribbling from the corner of his mouth. He wiped off the excess come with his thumb, then promptly sucked it off the digit. “Sorry. That seemed like it would be easier than it was. It wasn’t awful, was it?”

Rick Grimes unsure of himself? This was something new to Daryl. He shook his head. “Not awful,” he said.

“Good,” Rick said, putting himself back in his pants and starting to put his shirt back on.

Daryl suddenly had a sinking feeling. “This ain’t gonna be like after Merle, is it?”

“What do you mean?” Rick asked, a quizzical look on his face.

“You held me all night and then got up the next morning and pretended it didn’t happen.”

“Daryl,” Rick started.

“If it is, that’s okay,” Daryl said, interrupting. “I just need to know.”

“Daryl,” Rick said again more firmly. “I did that for you. You seemed to need someone, so I wanted to be there for you. But I figured you be embarrassed at needin’ someone and didn’t want to force you to talk about it. I thought pretendin’ it hadn’t happened would be easier for you.”

“I didn’t need **someone**. I needed **you**.”

“What?” Rick said.

“When good things happen, I need to tell you. When bad things happen, I need you even more. I just . . . I – ”

“I love you,” Rick burst in.

Daryl looked slightly aggravated at having been interrupted.

“Sorry,” Rick said. “Just. I love you. You seemed like you were about to say it and I wanted to say it first. I’ve been wantin’ to say it for a while. I just didn’t want you to wonder after I said it if I just said it ‘cause you said it first.”

Daryl burst out laughing. “This is a side to you I ain’t seen before.”

“No one has,” Rick said seriously, “because it’s a side I didn’t know I had, either. It’s you. You make me like this.”

Daryl started to reach for Rick, then realized his hand was still covered in Rick’s come and stopped.

“Here. Let me get that for you,” Rick said, leaning down and licking across Daryl’s hand, then sucking each of his fingers into his mouth.

“You’re killin’ me, here,” Daryl said.

“Good,” Rick said. “Wanna go again? Milton figured out how to brew his own lube.”

“You don’t say,” Daryl said. “Which one of us is gonna ask him about it?”

“Neither,” Rick said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small vile. “Michael slipped me some last week.”

“And you brought it here,” Daryl paused. “When you came here for a simple shoulder rub.”

Rick just kept looking at Daryl, waiting for him to catch up.

“Your shoulder ain’t even sore, is it?” Daryl asked.

Rick grinned sappily and shrugged. “Nope.”

Daryl finally put his hand on Rick’s face and drew him closer. “You’re gonna get it for that,” he said playfully.

“Can’t wait,” Rick said, as Daryl drew him into a kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. This work was not beta'd. Feel free to point out any mistakes. If there is something I should have tagged that I forgot, let me know that, too.
> 
> This original work is in no way meant to be an infringement on the copyrights of the show or the comic and no attempt for profit is being made. Please don't sue me. I'm poor.
> 
> Please do not archive anywhere without my permission.


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